Eripmav
by Miss Ribbit
Summary: [COMPLETE EDITED] sasusaku On a Quest to Reverse the Irreversible... Or so they thought.
1. 1 The Change 1

**Complete Summary/Author Note: **

Featuring our favorite (Well, MY favorite) Uchiha Runt and Sakura – his biggest fan.

Together, they star in this romantic comedy (**Genre**- fantasy, romance, humor, action/adventure) living on the edge of death – literally.

When changed into Vampire, Sasuke has only one thing in mind, to change back. But when a friendly – maybe overly friendly – Vampire named Penelope comes and tells him how he can, he realizes his new dream of being human once again comes to an end. 'To drain the blood of the one he loves.'

He doesn't love anybody.

Or does he?

Sakura comes into his life with a new purpose, and he realizes, he had been in love with her for a long time. But when he tells her this, and how he could have been human again, things take a turn for the worst. Sakura convinces him to take her life so he can live again.

But was Penelope wrong?

Things turn upside down when Sakura too, gets turned, and together with our favorite energetic blonde, Naruto, (who remains human) are _on a quest to reverse the irreversible._

****

**Eripmav**

**Part One, Chapter One**

**The Change**

**He knew he was dead**. He knew that from the very beginning. But his pride would not allow him to admit it and call for help – though the rest of his cell was trying to keep them selves alive and would not be able to aid him even if he did ask – Nor would his pride allow him to pass by the challenge in the first place.

He turned ever so slightly so he could scan the area for Naruto. 'Dead-Last better not be doing better than I am.' He thought coldly, unable to spot the blonde eighteen-year-old.

With his attention not on his enemy for that second he was easily knocked down. He cursed mentally for being stupid enough to let himself get distracted. He cursed again as the ground collided painfully with his already broken body. He knew in that instant that he would not be getting up again.

This was it. This was the end. Uchiha Sasuke was going to die.

One – or maybe three – of his ribs cracked in his fall, and he knew more would as soon as his opponent - a large demon, its kind unknown – prepared for the final blow. Sasuke watched weakly from the ground, but fainted before he could witness his last seconds on this earth.

-----------------------------

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes. Was he dead? No. He breathed in the deep, strong sent of pine. He never remembered it being so strong before – unless you crushed some of the needles right under your nose.

He swished his saliva around in his mouth and turned his head to spit it out. It was bright red and his tongue was just starting to recognize the bitter-sweet taste of blood.

Blood?

He carefully moved his hands to his head and untied his head protector. He then brought it level with his face. He squinted at the fuzzy reflection of his open mouth. It looked dark and felt sticky and his teeth were covered in blood. 'Must have bit my tongue when I fell…' Sasuke thought, knowing already that he did not bite his tongue because it was not swollen or sore. But thinking about what it _really_ was from was something this Uchiha did not want to think about.

He hesitantly sat up, finding that he did not feel any pain where he should have after the beating he had received earlier. 'Was it all a dream?' he though glaring around at his surroundings.

Night had long fallen. It was evening when he and his teammates were attacked on their way home after a mission. They did not have to fight the monsters that attacked them; they were tired and weak as it was from their mission. But Sasuke was not one to run from a fight. And he cursed himself for being that way now.

Monsters, or demons, were rare opponents. But they were exceptionally dangerous. You could never tell whether it was strong or weak just by looking at it. With a human opponent, you could tell by they way they carried themselves, their movements and how they handled their weapons. Monsters didn't have weapons, usually, and they all carried and moved themselves much in the same – Overly proud and heavily – Sasuke had judged wrong as he threw himself into an attack.

He sighed heavily thinking that the whole thing must have been some sort of strange dream. He was just about to lean back onto his right hand when a spark of pain shot up through his arm. He bit back a startled cry and looked down at the crook of his arm. He had been bitten by something. It was too large for a spider… maybe a snake? But he thought snakes probably wouldn't bite _him_. And unless it was agitated, then a snake wouldn't have anyway. There were only two neat holes so that ruled out rodents.

But by what then?

Sasuke found himself standing up with ease. He did not have to ask where he was (not that there was anybody close enough to ask…); he could easily see the rest of his cell through the trees under which he now stood. But apparently, they couldn't see him.

He felt extremely light headed, and almost giddy. But he pushed the thought of those emotions out of his head as he picked his way out of the bush to where he saw Kakashi standing over a silent Naruto and sobbing Sakura.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shrieked after seeing him emerge from the shadows. She scrambled to her feet. "We thought you were dead!" She threw herself on him, hugging him tightly and sobbing into his shoulder. 'Umm…' Sasuke thought looking down at the top of her head. He fought back the urge to shove her off and yell: "Get off me, you freak!" But he didn't dare open his mouth, knowing what they would see if he did so. Naruto stood.

"Man, we were sure you were a goner, especially after you were knocked to the ground. I saw the whole thing." Sasuke winced at the thought of Naruto witnessing him during his 'downfall'. "It was weird though…" Naruto continued, "A woman in black suddenly appeared and took you away, somehow scaring away the demon you were fighting… And the ones we were fighting… if that makes any sense." Sasuke shook his head.

'So it wasn't a dream…' Sasuke thought to himself wonderingly. 'But what was it that happened to me…?' He clucked his tongue staring unseeingly straight ahead.

"Are you al right, Sasuke?" Sakura sniffed finally letting him go and looking up at him. He nodded his head and eyed her suspiciously. Did he look like he wasn't okay? He blinked.

"He needs some water…!' Sakura thought sniffing again and shaking some of her matted, pink hair out of her eyes. She took hold of Sasuke's arm and led him to the pond nearby where they had fought. She looked up at him expectantly. He only had to think for a second about what to do next. He knelt down and cupped some water in his hands and rinsed his mouth.

"Come." Kakashi said suddenly behind him. "You should sleep, you look pale." Sasuke turned to look up at him. He nodded his head looking away again. He was probably just tired… Hopefully.

-------------------------------------

His dreams were strange. Cold and bloody. He was surrounded in darkness, but knew exactly where he was.

The Uchiha Massacre – But instead of being stuck in the middle, only able to watch, he was at his brother's side – Laughing at each fallen person. Watching as more and more blood was spilled by his hands.

The thought and sight of so much blood made his veins hum in delight and his stomach churn in sickness at the same time.

He tried to direct his attacks at his brother instead, but was unable to control what he did with body. It moved and laughed against his will. Soon, only he and his brother were left standing. In a darkness filled with their dead family. Itachi turned to his little brother, an odd smile pulling at his lips…

---

Sasuke's eyes snapped open. He wrapped his blanket completely around him, shielding his head from the sunlight that peeked over the treetops in almost a playful manner.

"Good morning!" Sakura said, annoyingly cheerful, Sasuke thought. She grabbed a handful of Sasuke's blanket and pulled it back sharply unraveling an unhappy Uchiha out onto the grass. He cursed loudly, using a word that made Sakura wince, and covering his eye protectively from the sudden burst of sunlight.

"Blast it, Sakura! Can't a guy get some sleep around here?" He snarled up at her, still squinting from the brightness of the sunshine. She raised her chin defensively.

"_You_ have been sleeping _all_ morning!" she smiled cocking her head slightly. "Kakashi-Sensei asked me to wake you."

"Oh." Was all Sasuke could manage to say. All morning? That was absurd! Since when had he ever slept in? Had he ever slept in before? He didn't think he had… He looked up at her, his gaze flickering to her neck briefly before he forced himself to look away. "Sorry." He added for no particular reason.

----------------------------------

The sun burned his skin as he slowly followed behind his companions. None of them seemed bothered by the sudden heat wave. He groaned as he stumbled along, his vision starting to blur slightly. 'Must be effects from the poison…' He thought tiredly, glancing at the bite mark on his arm, coming to the conclusion that it must have been a snake. It had healed surprisingly fast and now was just a pale scar.

"God, it's hot." He sighed running his fingers through his hair.

"Sasuke, it's only seventeen degrees." Naruto said turning to face him, eyebrows raised.

"Are you sure? It feels like… an oven." He stopped walking to steady his footing. He started to sway uneasily. "Can we stop in the shade for a moment?" He asked already walking to a nearby tree. "Have lunch maybe? I'm starving." He didn't wait for an answer as he sat down heavily.

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked timidly sitting next to him. She placed he hand on his cheek. "Are you feeling okay? You're really pale…" She licked her lips and brushed the hair out of his eyes.

"Stop it, Sakura." Sasuke growled at her and batting her hand away, "You don't need to play nurse." He moved away from her somewhat, Sakura reluctantly got up and Naruto took her place. Naruto handed him and apple and bit into another for himself. Sasuke took it gratefully; He felt weak from lack of food, even though he had eaten something not two hours earlier.

He looked at the bright red fruit for a second, and ran his tongue over his teeth in thought. He was shocked at the sharpness he found there. He dropped the apple and reached over, grabbing Naruto by the head, which caused the boy to momentarily choke.

"GAH!" Naruto cried as he was pulled over. Sasuke ignored him and looked into Naruto's headband. He opened his mouth and inspected his teeth. His eyes widened as he noticed his canines had been sharpened to a point. He gasped.

"Umm…" Naruto struggled in Sasuke's grasp. "Yes, your teeth are lovely, aren't they? Now, would you mind letting me go?" Naruto pulled back at the same time Sasuke let him go causing him to fly backwards into the grass.

"Holy… Sssh… Shit." Sasuke spat covering his mouth.

--------------------------------------

Sasuke sat as far away from his teammates as he dared without being conspicuous. He didn't know what was happening to him, and he didn't want to put his friends – yes, _friends_ – in danger.

He sharpened a kunai with angered vigor; he carelessly swiped it at the sharpening stone. He cried out when he sliced open his middle finger and cursed as hot blood started sliding down his hand. He automatically brought his hand to his lips and sucked at the cut, trying to coax it to stop bleeding.

"Mm!" He gasped slightly when his saliva stung the small wound. The taste of his blood flowed over his tongue, and he felt himself relax. "Mm…" He closed his eyes and sucked on his finger, willing more of the sweet – His eyes snapped into focus. He jerked his hand away from his mouth and glared accusingly at his finger. He watched as it continued to bleed. Creeping down his finger and over his palm. He brought his hand back to his face and licked it clean.

"Eww, Sasuke that's gross!" Sakura took his hand away from his mouth and began to wrap his finger in a bandage. He watched her hungrily, his eyes drifting to her neck once again.

"S-Sasuke…?" Sakura backed away "You… You're scaring me… when you do that…" she whimpered, hurrying to finish tending to his finger.

"What?" I… I'm sorry. I just need to be alone for a while." She nodded getting to her feet and half ran away.

He looked down at the crook of his arm where the scar shone in the late afternoon light.

What was happening to him?

When he raised his gaze to look at his teammates not far away, he noticed Kakashi watching him warily.

--------------------

Naruto stretched out on the grass.

"So, we just gonna laze around for the rest of the day?" he asked when Sakura trotted over to him and Kakashi.

"I guess…" she sighed sitting down next to Naruto. "It doesn't seem like he'll be moving again for a while. He's…" He paused, searching for the right words. "_Different_."

"Yes." Kakashi said stepping forward. "He is."

Kakashi made dinner that night, which was odd. Nobody actually made anything other than instant ramen unless it was a special occasion. And today didn't seem like a special occasion.

"Garlic soup!" Kakashi announced happily, handing Sakura a small bowl. "Sasuke!" he called scooping out another. He came hesitantly, like he was afraid of Kakashi's outstretched hand. "It's one of your favorites.' Their teacher coaxed. Sasuke nodded and finally took the steaming bowl.

He sipped it gingerly. His eyes widened in shock and he shrieked, dropping the dish at his feet. He covered his mouth with his hands and ran to a nearby bush where he was violently sick.

"I think it tastes great…" Naruto thought out loud watching Sasuke crumble to his knees.

Kakashi strode purposely forward towards Sasuke and picked him up off the ground. He inspected the boy's neck then his arms where he found the bite mark.

"It's just a snake bite… or something…" Sasuke said weakly.

"Hardly." Kakashi growled forcing Sasuke's mouth open and looking over his teeth. "Sunlight burns you easily, garlic makes you sick. Food does nothing for you, you crave blood – even your own. And your teeth are as sharp as daggers. You have been turned."

"What?" Naruto sat up his voice cracking. "What! He's a… SASUKE is a VAMPIRE!" Sakura snorted.

"Pffft. You guys are… pathetic. A _vampire_? Please. Even I'm not dumb enough to fall for that." She cocked her head at Kakashi. "Aren't you a little old for _fairy tales_, Sensei?"

Kakashi growled at her. "It is not wise to question what you do not understand."

"Oh brother. 'What I don't understand'? Come _on_ Kakashi, everybody knows there are no such thing as vampires." Kakashi decided to ignore her.

"How is it that he could have gotten turned? There wasn't time! We have been with him everyday! And don't you have to drink the blood of another vampire in order to get turned? I know he's cold hearted, but Sasuke doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would do that." Naruto's eyes widened.

"Recently." Kakashi responded looking down at Sasuke who had gone limp. "Obviously. During the battle we just had, I'd say. And he could have been force-fed. It's not hard to do that if your victim is knocked out."

"Damn it!" Sasuke screamed regaining his energy and pushing himself away form his teacher. "I'm bloody hungry –" he caught himself. "I mean, _really_ hungry… is there anything I can eat?"

"Am I safe here?" Naruto squeaked. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Don't be stupid, of course you are. Because Sasuke is NOT a vampire. Look." He picked up the kunai from where Sasuke had dropped it and ran the blade below her thumb. Blood gushed across her palm. "See?" He held it up to Sasuke.

"Sakura!" Kakashi cried moving to throw her out of the way, but Sakura stopped him by shoving him with her shoulder. "No! Don't be an idiot! He's hungry and may not be able to control himself!" Sakura snorted again and waved her hand under Sasuke's nose.

He licked his lips. He could smell the blood strongly, which made his hunger pains sharpen. Before he could realize what he was doing, he reached out and grabbed Sakura's wrist and held her hand to his lips.

He drank deeply, but it wasn't enough to satisfy him. Sakura screeched as his fangs sank into her flesh. She tried to twist away from him, but he held her firmly. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto moved to help her.

_Sleep…_

The thought echoed in her head, and she felt herself start to go limp.

"Sasuke!" she gasped. "What… are… you…" her eyes grew heavy and finally closed. "Doing…?" She collapsed against him. He groaned in response and sank to his knees, putting Sakura carefully onto the ground so he could use both hands to hold her wrist. He was so hungry. 'Just a little more…' he told himself after every mouthful, but could not bring himself to let Sakura go.

"Stop!" Kakashi pulled Sasuke from Sakura, his fangs dripping with her blood. "You'll kill her!"

Sasuke felt dizzy. It seemed like all his senses had been dulled, the only thing he noticed was the contented buzzing in his head. He was no longer hungry. He looked down at Sakura, finally realizing what he had done. He pushed her limp body away from him and turned away, ignoring the heavenly scent of her blood that still flowed from where he had bit her.

He had _bit_ her.

He shuddered and buried his face in his hands.

--------------------------------------

Sakura stirred under Kakashi's touch.

"Mmm… I feel… Weak…" She sighed only able to keep her eyes half open. Kakashi soother her forehead with his hand.

"I know." He sighed glancing back at Sasuke. Sakura closed her eyes again, her hand throbbed.

"Will… I live?" she asked quietly straining for energy to help her sit up. He must have drained enough blood to have made her so weak in such a short amount of time. Either that of he had the power to put a strong thought of sleep into a… victims mind.

Kakashi's visible eye was laughing though he didn't voice the humor he heard in her words, and she knew she was all right. But somewhere, deep in her chest, she wondered.

What would this do to her chances with him? She still loved him…

/HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT/ Inner Sakura piped up for the first time in a long, long time. /HE ALMOST KILLED YOU/ 'I know…' she thought meekly. 'But…' she looked over Kakashi's shoulder to Sasuke who had crawled under a tree.

"Sasuke?" she called softly. Kakashi didn't move; Sasuke ignored her. He was curled up in a very un-Sasuke-like position. Sakura sighed and glanced down at her hand.

What now?


	2. 2 The Change 2

**Authors Note: **This story looses much of its 'bloody' quality a few chapters in, and in the middle/end, it looses it completely. So if you are not in to that, never fear, it goes away in a chapter or two. :)

She isn't supposed to be, but I made Inner Sakura a separate character.

Penelope is my own character.

**Eripmav**

**Part One, Chapter Two**

**Sasuke was silent for the rest of the night. **He sat with his back against the tree and his eyes were closed.

Naruto watched him from a distance, ready to bolt if he so much as twitched. Sakura lay nearby sleeping and Kakashi was -most likely- reading something somewhere.

Sasuke's eyes fluttered open and focused on the blonde. Naruto shuddered then stiffened when he saw the raven-head awaken. Sasuke rolled his eyes and stood causing the blonde to yelp and leap to his feet, stumbling into the glowing embers of the fire Kakashi had built. He shrieked painfully and started stomping his sandal shaking the sparks off. His eyes rose and met Sasuke's briefly, he turned sharply as if to run, but hit his head on a low tree branch with a loud crack. He fell in a heap to the ground and groaned.

Sasuke laughed.

"What's th' matter dead-last, can't find your footing?" He laughed again waking the slumbering Sakura. Her bright green eyes widened as they fell upon Sasuke laughing evilly and Naruto sprawled on the ground at his feet.

"I'm not going to eat you, you know." Sasuke smirked down at the boy, not moving to help him up.

"HOW DO I KNOW THAT?" Naruto cried his eyes blazing. A number of emotions openly flashed across his face – anger and fear among them. Sasuke fell quiet. "I… I'm sorry." He added quietly, getting to his feet. His features pained at the blow he must have caused – The blow that Sasuke would never admit to receiving.

"Sasuke…?" Sakura whispered sitting up awkwardly. "…Did I taste good? I –" her eyes widened. "I mean, did my blood taste good?" she blushed.

It was the question Sasuke had least been expecting. He thought she would have screamed at him the first chance she got. He sputtered for a minute then gave up trying to find words and just stared at her in shock. She cocked an eyebrow.

'Umm…" he began again. "Y… No? ...Yes? ..." Sweat began to bead on his temples and his stuffed his hands into his pockets so his teammates would not see them shake. He replaced his look of shock for his trademark glare and started at her calmly... as calmly as he could anyway… He blinked.

"Never mind." Sakura sighed shaking her head. Naruto looked from one to the other in blank confusion.

--

The moon was high in the sky when Kakashi returned holding two dead rabbits by the ears. Sasuke eyed them suspiciously, fearing he knew what they were for. Kakashi winked and threw one of the dead animals in Sasuke's direction. He scrunched up his nose in distaste and looked down at the animal in his lap.

"Snack food!" Kakashi said a little _too_ cheerfully. Sasuke sighed and picked up the animal and hesitantly bit into its neck.

Since it was dead he had to suck to get anything. And as soon as its bitter, cold blood touched his lips he coughed and hacked, tossing the rabbit to the side.

"No?" Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow. He handed him the other rabbit. Sasuke slowly bit into it, feeling rather stupid. (Who wouldn't?) Sakura watched from a safe distance, one hand over her mouth, Naruto watched from even further away in horror, his face white as a sheet.

The taste was better, but not by much. He gulped down as much as he could, knowing that if he didn't, he would go hungry. He forced his thoughts into thinking that he was actually drinking milk… sour milk… Uhh… he was drinking tea… no… day-old coffee? Umm…

No.

He was drinking the blood of a dead rabbit. He gagged, tossing the rabbit aside.

Sasuke sighed and leaned against his tree and closed his eyes, not wanting to face the expressions on his friend's faces. Before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

--

Sasuke woke with a start, smelling something sweet hanging in the air around him, thick like a storm cloud. If he had been human, he would not have awoken just by the smell. But then again, he was no longer human, and it was pointless to try and tell himself otherwise.

He took in a deep breath of the intoxicating something that hung around him before opening his eyes. He could sense what it came from. Sakura. He slowly let his eyes lift, but they widened suddenly at the sight of her kneeling in front of him holding out two bleeding fingers.

"_Sakura!_" He whispered madly sitting straighter, his back tensing.

"Shut up, you idiot. Hurry and drink some while the others sleep!"

"Are you mad?" he growled trying desperately to ignore the scent that pulled at him to accept her crazy offer.

"I saw what happened earlier, we all did. I have enough blood, I can spare a little more!" she pushed her fingers closer to him.

"Sakura…" Sasuke said darkly, trying to sound as dangerous as possible, which was hard in his condition. No matter how tempting it was, he couldn't risk hurting her again. "You – "

Sakura cut him off by pressing her fingers to his lips. Her warm blood spilled onto his tongue; he shuddered hungrily. He locked his eyes with hers while he licked her cuts, not allowing himself to suck and draw more fluid.

He turned his head away. This wasn't right.

"Sasuke," she looked at him her eyes big and unreadable. This was odd, in knowing her.

"No." he said firmly. "Go to bed." He closed his eyes. "You can't go cutting yourself every time I feel hungry. Forget about me for once in your life and think about _you_."

Sakura blinked. Forget about this piece of eye-candy sitting in front of her? Was that even possible? No matter what he was, she didn't think that she could do it. His dark eyes and black hair begging for fingers to get lost in their depth; Strong muscular arms and killer body. Sure, he was dark and cold to others the majority of the time, but that just added to the want to win him over.

He looked pale in the moonlight, but his eyes flickered with life. Sakura rose to her feet and walked away, defeated.

Sasuke let out his breath, not realizing he had been holding it. Thank the gods she left. He was tempted to drain her right there. Her blood was warm and sweet – not that he had a lot to compare it to…

He fell asleep again thinking about the good old days when 'real' food had an effect on his hunger…

--

Thankfully, the clouds hung heavy and close together the next day. Even though he was uncomfortable in the daylight, he was thankful that vampire rumors were not true (where as soon as a vampire was hit with sunlight, he or she burst into flames).

They reached Konohagakure by early afternoon. Sasuke made a beeline to his house where he promptly locked himself in the darkest corner, Kakashi headed for the library where the next volume of Make-Out Paradise awaited him, Naruto could be found at a local ramen shop, and Sakura wandered aimlessly.

'There has got to be a way to reverse this.' Sasuke thought about himself pulling al his blinds shut. 'There _has_ to.' He sighed when he found himself poking around in his refrigerator. He came upon a raw steak in his freezer which he sucked dry after thawing it in the microwave then started pacing.

What he really wanted was a big, fat, greasy cheeseburger. Which he could have, just, it wouldn't be the same. He sat down at his table with an annoyed 'huff'.

Something crashed in the entrance of his apartment. Sasuke sat erect and listened carefully. The up-side to his change was he had an incredible sense of hearing. He folded his hands carefully on the table's surface.

He could hear something heavy swish and light footsteps coming down his hall. And if he tilted his head just right, he could make out the faint sound of breathing. He waited patiently.

"Hello." He said calmly when a figure appeared in the kitchen doorway. They stiffened for a second then relaxed and laughed lightly.

'Why, hello!" she said stepping into the semi light. "Do you know who I am, then?" she asked grinning down at him. Sasuke was silent.

She wore a long black gown that fell nearly to the floor; her hair, too was black, that he could see in this light, and hung straight to her shoulders. Her sleeves covered most of her hands, but Sasuke could just make out the tips of long, black fingernails poking out from under the hem. (**AN:** Not meaning to sound Goth or anything… -bows-)

"No, I suppose you don't," she sighed. "You were un-conscious, after all… I am the one who changed you." She said cheerfully, inspecting her left hand. Sasuke stood so fast he knocked over the chair which he was sitting in to the floor with a clatter. He balled his hands into tight fists and clenched his teeth.

"You…" he growled dangerously.

"Me." She smiled "my name is Penelope." She gave a short bow, "and you are Uchiha Sasuke."

"How is that important?" He asked feeling his hands relax slightly.

"At the moment, it's not. I came to tell you the few rules about being a Vampire."

"About that," Sasuke snarled, "Why the _hell_ – "

"Don't eat garlic (though I can see that you figured that out, it does _nasty_ things), Watch out for silver, it causes pain." She winked. "Sunlight. You can be in it, but it feels like forty degrees on most days. (**AN:** That's about 100 degrees Fahrenheit) Crosses. They don't do anything really, but they can jump out at you in some places and cause quite a scare. Mirrors, obviously you can see your reflection is there. Don't worry you don't have to sleep in a coffin." She laughed "Unless you want to, of course. To change somebody you drink their blood and bite yourself so they can drink yours… I _think_ that's it."

Sasuke blinked. Change somebody? He didn't think he would need to do that. Ever. He swallowed and asked: "Is there any way to reverse this?" Penelope frowned.

"I believe, in order to change back, you must drink the blood of the one you love." Sasuke stared at her, utterly appalled.

"I… don't love anybody!" his voice cracked.

"Oh," Penelope grinned. "Well, you're screwed then!" She turned on her heel and with a swish, glided out of the kitchen.

"Wait!" Sasuke called to her retreating back. "Why did you change _me_?" She paused mid-stride.

"Because," she said without turning to face him. "You are Uchiha Sasuke." She shifted her weight slightly. "And… I was hungry. You were going to die anyway. (Stupid men, getting themselves into messes they cant get out of again). You looked like you wanted to live longer, and I could give you another chance." She disappeared. Sasuke cursed.

---------------

"Idiot girl." Inner Sakura growled as her outer self roamed the streets in the direction of Sasuke's house. "Go to bed already! I'm tired!" Outer Sakura ignored her and wandered up Sasuke's street. "DON'T BE STUPID!" inner Sakura screamed as outer Sakura stopped at the end of his walk. /Oh, shut up/ Sakura sighed.

The front door opened and a figure clad in black glided down the steps.

/Hello/ The person – female – said cheerfully when passing Sakura.

/Hi/ Outer Sakura said cautiously. /Who are you? What are you doing… here/ "Idiot." Inner Sakura added.

/Cousin/ the woman said with a wink and turned to leave.

/Oh, okay/ Sakura sighed, smiling. "STUPID, IDIOT, GULLIBLE, PEA-BRAINED GIRL!" Inner Sakura screeched lunging at the woman's back as she walked down the sidewalk. "SASUKE HAS NO MORE FAMILY!"… /…/… "…"… /SHIT/ Sakura sprang for the front door and kicked it open. "NOOO!" Inner Sakura screamed trying to hold back her outer personality.

/SASUKE/ She screamed frantically as he appeared in the entrance.

/Sakura! What the hell are you doing/ "Yeah!" inner Sakura growled. "What the hell are you doing?"

/I… You… There was this woman outside your house… I…/ Inner Sakura sighed.

/So…/ Sasuke asked, sounding annoyed.

/She said she was your cousin, and I know you have no family…/ she paused to swallow. /And I thought… Maybe…. Something happened to you/ Outer Sakura looked down.

"You're such a sentimental fool. Why does the weaker half always get the body?" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

/I'm fine, see/ he held out his hands palm up. Sakura nodded and slowly turned to leave.

"That was embarrassing." Inner Sakura giggled.

/Oh, shut up/

--

Sakura walked slowly down the street, the sun was setting, and it would have been really pretty if her inner self would be quiet.

She sighed heavily when she found herself at her front door. 'What a day.' She thought glancing at the bite mark on her hand as she unlocked her front door.

She plopped herself down on the couch and picked up pair of knitting needles. Inner Sakura commented that it was a stupid way to kill time, but Sakura ignored her. She continued making the only thing she knew how. A scarf.

She had once decided to make a scarf for Sasuke for Christmas, but that was over a year ago, and she never could bring herself to finish and give it to him. It had grown to be a very long, blue scarf. Now reaching eleven feet.

She finished it, she decided, making it twelve feet even, and then started one for herself. Bright pink.

She gave up with a huff after making several mistakes and crawled into bed. Inner Sakura cheered.

----

The next morning, cell seven met together to get their next assignment.

"You will be escorting Mr. –"

"WAIT!" Naruto shrieked, interrupting the Hokage, "I'm sorry sir, but escorting? That's something that –"

"I know," the Hokage said calmly folding his hands. "Now, as I was saying, you will be escorting Mr. Tazuna to where he needs to go." He waved his hand in dismissal.

"How boring…" Naruto sighed stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Hn." Sasuke said automatically. Sakura just smiled sweetly, her inner self straining to get kunai into the old man's chest.

"I won't be coming with you three." Kakashi announced. "I'm needed elsewhere," he added upon seeing their crestfallen faces. "You can't have your old teacher with you forever." He said cheerily, and left.

"Aw…" Naruto sighed sadly. "Darn." Sasuke 'Hn'ed' again and Sakura nodded her head, kicking a rock on the ground.

The three wandered to the cliff where they used to sit and wait for Kakashi when they were younger. Naruto grinned at the sky randomly, Sakura tossed rocks into the trees below, and Sasuke stood, thinking in the shade of a large tree.

"Sasuke-Kun!" A girl cried running up the path. "I thought I would find you here!" She said in a sing-song voice and throwing her arms around Sasuke's neck. Sakura began to growl. "How are you?" she batted her eyelashes up at him.

"I-Ino!" Sasuke coughed. "Umm…" he detached himself from her grasp and took a pace back. "Good?"

"INO YOU PIG! GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Sakura began to stalk forward, hands clenching and unclenching. Sasuke had never been so relieved to have Sakura step in.

"Why, hello to you too, Sakura." Ino looked her up and down and sighed. "Well, at least you grew into your large forehead.

"Yeah? Too bad you never grew into your –"

"Sakura! Ino! SHUT UP!" Naruto covered his ears. "If you were fighting over me, I'd gladly let you continue; but since you are fighting over Sasuke, you are being extremely annoying...!" Sakura took a shuddery breath in hopes to calm herself.

Sasuke rolled his eyes – when an idea hit him.

"Hey, Ino…" he did his best to cover his words with sweetness. Not something he was used to. She turned to him smiling prettily.

"What is it hot-stuff?" she batted her eyelashes again. Sasuke took a deep breath, bracing himself, he tried to think of happy thoughts as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. Sakura shrieked; Naruto made a shocked-gurgling sound. Ino giggled happily.

Sasuke tilted his head to the side and brushed his lips against her neck. Ino's giggles swiftly changed to laughter.

"Ha, ha, Sakura! I won – Ooh!" she gave a pleasant shudder. She suddenly stopped mid-giggle, her eyes widening in shock. She gasped as Sasuke's fangs sank deeper into her flesh. She squirmed frantically as she tried to free herself from his hungry grasp. Sakura watched in horror as Ino slowly paled and her eyes seemed to droop with sleep.

/YEAH/ Inner Sakura pumped her fist into the air, Naruto shivered with a now shocked-happy expression on his face. Sasuke stepped back and licked his lips, watching Ino crumple to the ground; he looked up at his companions, smirking.

"She won't be bothering us for a while." He said proudly.

"D…did you kill her…?" Sakura asked starting to grin.

"Don't be stupid." Sasuke frowned. "Of course not… though, it was tempting." He turned on his heel and walked purposely down the path.

**Author Note:** I apologize about the Ino thing. I really loath Ino with an unexplainable passion… And it seemed like a good idea at the time. No flames on that, please:)


	3. 3 The Change 3

**Authors Note:** Major OOC-ness happening in this chapter… -bows- When I wrote the Shikamaru/Chouji thing, I didn't know what they were like, so I made it up…

**Eripmav**

**Part One, Chapter Three **

**"Mr. Tazuna!" Naruto cried when he saw him.** "YOU'RE the one who we're escorting?" He ran to the old bridge-maker who nodded, grinning.

"Of course!" he laughed "I requested you specially!" He nodded again in Sasuke's direction and patted Sakura's shoulder when they walked to Naruto's side.

"What's got you into trouble this time?" Sakura asked smiling up at him.

"Nothing actually. I just made something up and requested you. I thought you guys might need a little break, and that it might be nice seeing you three again." He began walking through the town. Sasuke rolled his eyes, but smiled -slightly- nonetheless.

Mr. Tazuna and Naruto chatted happily, walking aimlessly through the open-air market place. Sakura drifted from stall to stall, admiring merchandise.

"Oh!" Tazuna said suddenly, cutting himself off mid-sentence. "I love these things! I'm not sure why though... Isn't it lovely? Inari is getting interested in them too because of me. I'm starting to collect them!" he held something up for Naruto to see, the blonde shrugged, an odd smile placed on his lips. "I think I will get it for him. What do you think pretty-boy?" Tazuna whipped around rather suddenly and waved a chain with a large golden cross on the end in front of Sasuke's face.

He squeaked in a very un-manly way and stumbled backwards and into Sakura who was inspecting fruit. She screeched as she fell forwards knocking over a barrel of apples and falling to the ground. Tazuna watched all this unfold with a shocked expression.

"Bit jumpy, ain't he?" he whispered to Naruto who was giggling uncontrollably behind his hands.

Sasuke kept his distance from Tazuna for the next while, his heart pounding whenever he thought about what was in the right pocket of the man's jacket. Naruto burst out laughing whenever he even looked in Sasuke's direction.

--

"Naruto! SHUT UP!" Sakura hissed. "It's not funny!" she glared at him.

"YEAH it is!" Naruto said clutching his gut and gasping for breath. "Sakura, you should have SEEN his face! It was like… like…" He screwed up his face and made his eyes pop out; he dropped his jaw and gasped dramatically. He burst out laughing again. Sakura couldn't help a small smile. That _would_ have been funny to see on Sasuke…

"I didn't look like that." Sasuke growled, his hair covering his eyes. Sakura quickly wiped her smile away and replaced is with a dangerous glare which she directed at Naruto.

"I agree, he looked more like _this_:" Tazuna said. Sakura turned away as Naruto started crying with laughter.

"Shut up and pick on somebody else." Sakura said darkly staring straight ahead.

/YOU'RE STICKING UP FOR HIM/ Inner Sakura gasped. /HOW CAN YOU DO THAT! HE ALMOST KILLED YOU/ Sakura told her inner self to go suck and egg. Naruto tried silencing himself to no avail and had to excuse himself.

Tazuna took the trio out to dinner that night – a very fancy restaurant. Sasuke sat uncomfortably to the corner of the booth, Sakura next to him. Naruto sat across from them, Tazuna at his side.

"Order anything you like!" Tazuna told them, clasping his hands behind his head. "It's my treat!" Sasuke sighed, glancing at the menu before only ordering a tall glass of tomato juice. Tazuna raised an eyebrow in his direction but didn't comment. Sakura ordered pickled sour plums and fruit salad with dumplings. (Her favorite!) And Naruto was to have the special ramen deal. Tazuna didn't have anything.

"I have already eaten." He shrugged when the waitress came with her small note pad and mini skirt.

"Hold the garlic on the ramen." Sakura told her.

"_What_?" Naruto cried; then silenced himself seeing that it was for the best._ Sasuke's_ best… (Grumble) The waitress raised her eyebrows.

"Hold the garlic on the Garlic Ramen order?" Naruto nodded his had glumly. She licked her lips then walked away shaking her head.

"Juice all you having?" The waitress asked Sasuke when she returned with their orders (garlic friendly). Sasuke nodded. "Could you pass me your utensils then?" He shrugged in response and reached to pick up his fork.

"OH _GOD_!" he screamed dropping the fork and sucking on his burnt fingers. "_Shit_." He said under his breath, watching Sakura collect his fork and knife and giving him a worried glance.

"Silverware." He sighed nursing his blistering fingers when the waitress left again. Tazuna watched wide-eyed and Naruto was rubbing his shin where Sakura had kicked him before he could start laughing.

-------------------------------

"OW!" Sasuke jerked his hand away.

"Hold _still_!" Sakura grabbed his wrist and started dabbing his fingers that had started to bleed shortly after leaving the restaurant.

"Sakura! Leave them be, they will be fine tomorrow!" He tried to pull away again but Sakura held him firmly.

"Please, just let me put the blasted band-aids on! It'll at least make _me_ feel better!" Sasuke sighed heavily as Sakura fussed over his hand.

"There. See?" She let him go. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sasuke blinked.

"Do you really want me to answer that…? Sakura sighed, aggravated. Sasuke got up and walked to the front door. "Do you still need me, or am I free to leave?"

"Yes, _fine_! Goodnight." Sakura cleaned up her kitchen counter and threw everything into the bathroom cabinet. Sasuke opened the door.

"…Sakura?" He asked just before stepping outside. "Umm… Just to let you know, you tasted good. – Your blood I mean. Uhh… better than Ino, that is." His face started to redden. It was an odd compliment, and he wasn't used to giving them… but it was a start. She deserved one, after all. After all she had done for him over the years… He was just closing the door when Sakura called him back.

"Did you ever figure out about reversing your change?" She asked shyly.

"Umm… yeah." Sasuke didn't volunteer any more information and left Sakura puzzling.

'To drain the blood of one I love.' He sighed. 'I have no more family left… This sucks.' He tilted his head back and let the moon's light wash over his face. 'Do I love anybody?' before he could answer his thought, he walked into something.

"Hey," it said. Sasuke looked up into the angry eyes of Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. "Heard you hurt Ino" Nara growled grabbing Sasuke's collar.

"Yeah!" Choji added.

"We don't like that." Nara said his long nose inches from Sasuke. Choji added "Yeah!" and took a large bite out of a doughnut. Sasuke swallowed. How disgusting.

Nara shoved him away roughly; Sasuke struggled to keep his balance. Choji caught him and pushed him back to Nara. The thought of some nine-year-old being bullied flitted across his mind but soon fled away when he got a fist in his jaw.

He focused his eyes in time to see another flying fist. He knew instantly that he would have a black eye come tomorrow. Anger bubbled in his gut. He scrambled to his feet, eyes burning.

When he focused his eyes again, Nara and Choji were smirking at him.

"Gonna try and fight, Uchiha?" Nara laughed. "Won't do you any good!" Choji added "yeah!" Sasuke growled as they laughed at him. _AT HIM_! _NOBODY_ -should- have the nerve to laugh at _him_..! And how did they actually _hit _him! He must be pretty messed in the head…

He shocked himself when his vision suddenly tinted read and he felt an odd sensation in his mouth. He ran his tongue over his fangs and found they had grown longer.

He snarled at Choji and Nara, who stared at him – frozen to the spot.

"Dude!" Nara chocked. "His eyes… and _fangs_!" His voice traveled an octave up and his hands began to shake. "He's not human, man!" Let's get out of here!"

"Y-yeah!" Choji added and wobbled after his teammate.

Sasuke half-sighed half-laughed and rubbed his tender eye. 'Sakura's gonna _flip_.' He thought as he dawdled home.

Sakura…


	4. 4 Twelve Foot Scarf 1

**Author Note:** Love this Chapter.

**Eripmav**

**Part Two, Chapter One**

**Sakura's eyes fluttered open**; sunlight spilled through her windows and spread across her floor, bringing everything it touched to life. 'What a beautiful day…' she thought happily as she sat up. She swung her legs over the side of her bed, and slipped them into pink bunny slippers.

Shuffling to the kitchen, she started on coffee and was just pouring herself a bowl of Cheerios when somebody knocked on her front door. She panicked.

She was in her pajamas; her hair was a mess and worst of all: she had no makeup on. She managed to squeak out a "Hang on!" and ran to her room, brushed her hair and slid into a fluffy pink housecoat.

"COMING!" she hollered sliding to a stop in front of the door and opening it with a strangled '_huff_'.

"AK! SA-SASUKE!" she hid behind her door. 'NO!' she screamed inwardly. 'He can't see me like this!' /TOO LATE/ Inner Sakura pointed out helpfully.

"Um… hi… Sorry to bother you so early in the morning but –"

"OH MY GOD! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?" Sakura immediately forgot about her horrid appearance and stepped out of her cover to get a better look at Sasuke. His eye was puffy and purple and his bottom lip was swollen.

"Yeah… Got in a fight last night on the way home… Anyway, I was wondering – if it's not too much trouble… do you have any raw steaks? I kind of ate all of mine…" he cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand.

"Oh…" Sakura frowned. "I don't _think_ so…" When Sasuke nodded and turned to leave, she once again panicked. "No! Wait, I'll go look!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside.

She pushed him into her couch and ran to her refrigerator. She babbled about anything and everything just to keep him there longer. "Um… nope…" she said coming back into the living room. Sasuke looked her up and down.

"Do you always only wear one slipper?" he asked cocking an eyebrow; Sakura gasped.

"Ah… I'm going to run to the corner store. I'll be right back…" She blushed deeply, giving herself an excuse to leave temporarily.

--

She didn't realize she was still in her night things until she was walking into the store. She was so busy being embarrassed about Sasuke, she forgot to change. Inner Sakura laughed evilly as other shoppers gave her odd looks.

She grabbed a few steaks and paid for them, her face a deep crimson (a color that clashed dreadfully with her hair) the entire time.

She sighed heavily when she stepped back into her apartment. This was so far _not_ the awesome morning she had anticipated earlier. She gasped in horror when she walked into her living room, nearly dropping her bags and blushing even brighter.

Sasuke sat on the couch still… her twelve foot scarf, originally for him, in his lap. He smirked.

"This is awfully long." He said teasingly. Sakura forced herself to calm down and ignore her Inner self's crying laughter and ripped open a steak.

"Yeah, well," she said placing it on his bruised and yellowing eye. "Better not make fun of it too much; it was your last years Christmas present." He raised his eyebrows.

"Really?" he sad sounding mildly amused. "Must have got lost in the mail, I never got it…"

"Yeah, must have." Sakura rolled her eyes standing up and retrieving another steak from the bag now on the floor. "Here, you must be hungry."

"Hn. Thank you." Sakura watched in fascination as Sasuke chewed on it. It was so disgusting… but then again… what else could he eat without hurting people?

"Good?" she asked shifting her weight. Sasuke shook his head and let his eyes wander the room. Neither realized when he had finished his 'meal'. (If you can call it that) Their eyes met for a second – The clock chimed nine.

Sasuke jumped up, stepping on the scarf that had somehow managed to twist its way around his ankles. He tripped forward. Sakura automatically reached out to break his fall, getting herself tangled and found herself falling with Sasuke rather than helping. She yelped when she hit the ground, Sasuke on top of her. Sasuke took a sharp intake of breath as he tried to lift himself off her, only managing to get into a more intimate position.

"Here," Sakura cleared her throat and sat herself up, reaching down for the scarf. The end of it was just out of reach so she sat further forward, putting her chin on Sasuke's shoulder. She snatched up the scarf and pulled, tightening its grip rather than pulling Sasuke, and herself, free.

"This isn't exactly an easy position to hold…" Sasuke said through clenched teeth. "So if you hurry along, we'll both be relieved." Sakura nodded uneasily, her heart racing. Her finger was now caught in one of the scarf's many uneven stitches. This was _so_ not good. (Not that she didn't enjoy having Sasuke so close…)

She collapsed back onto the floor, holding her hand out to keep the scarf from cutting off her fingers' circulation.

"What?" Sasuke asked shifting his position a tad.

"Uh… I'm stuck." Sasuke sighed and said: "Here, why don't we try this…" He rolled onto his side, Sakura dragging along with him as the scarf's grip on her finger tightened. "Ow!" she cried bringing her other hand out from under herself and Sasuke and trying to free her hand.

She kicked in frustration just as she got free and cheered quietly, only to find her foot now caught in the tangled mess.

Sasuke propped himself up on his elbow and reached down with his other hand and started untangling one of his feet.

"Oi! Sakura!" Sakura shrieked and Sasuke started at the sudden sound coming from the front of the apartment, falling back on top of Sakura.

_Naruto._

"Sorry to bother you so early, but I wanted to return the book I borrowed from you. Your door was unlocked and I know you're always up at this time, so…"

Sakura stiffened as she heard Naruto's footsteps coming towards the living room.

"Oh my God." Sakura craned her neck and saw Naruto staring at her and Sasuke (who groaned) on her living room floor in a very suggestive position. His eyes widened.

"No! Naruto! It's not what it looks like!" Sakura said quickly.

"_Oh… my… GOD_!" Naruto screamed.

"……" Sasuke rolled back onto his side and reached down for the scarf again; he sighed heavily.

"No, really, Naruto! NOTHING happened!" Sakura sputtered feeling her foot come free.

"Yeah, I can SEE that! At least your clothes are still on… but I don't even WANT –"

"NOTHING HAPPENED! Sasuke was looking at the scarf I made, and then the clock chimed nine –"

"And you both decided it was a good time to get it on." Sakura ignored that comment.

"He jumped up, but the scarf, being so long, had tangled around his feet and he fell over –"

"Taking you with him. I see. Sasuke, I didn't think that you were like that." Sasuke snapped his head up and glared.

"No, _dobe_." He growled as Sakura strained for the rest of the scarf. "She tried to help me, but just got herself tangled in a mess. We fell in this kind of position –"

"And you thought '_Wow_! I kinda _like_ this!'"

"FELL IN _THIS_ _KIND OF POSITION_ and Sakura –"

"What's going on here?" Sasuke groaned and flopped back to the ground, not caring _what_ it looked like. Sakura 'um'ed'.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows and said "I was just walking by… you were making quite a hullabaloo. The front door was wide open!" Naruto snorted.

"Yeah, I just walked in on their _play time_." He crossed his arms angrily.

"FINE!" Sasuke yelled holding himself off Sakura once again. "_YES_! We were _getting it ON!_ _Happy now!_"

Naruto cleared his throat and turned to leave. Sakura started squirming and Kakashi scratched his head.

"Really? It just looks like you got tangled in that scarf and fell in a…ah… _suggestive_ position and were trying to untangle yourselves when maybe Naruto walked in…" Sasuke moaned and fell over once again, cursing every curse imaginable.

------------------------------

Sasuke was in a very bad mood for the next few days. It was like a dark storm cloud hanging over his head that zapped whoever happened to get too close to him. He must have decided he had received enough physical contact to last a long, _long_ time – and he probably needed to recover.

Sakura was silent – for the most part, shy. She hovered around not quite in sight. She jumped whenever somebody said her name or her and Sasuke's in the same sentence.

They, Sasuke and Sakura, had both decided, (after getting fully untangled with Kakashi's help) to keep the scarf locked up somewhere safe rather than destroy it – Sakura didn't have the heart.

Naruto was cheerful (oddly). He still didn't fully believe the _real_ story as to what happened (told by Kakashi after tying him up and gagging him – the only way to get him to listen). And he loved to go around the village and tell everybody his juiced up version of what he had walked in on. It was getting pretty far from the truth…

People Sakura didn't even _know_ were giving her odd looks.

Tazuna had gone home early – Inari had fallen ill. And Kakashi left for some mission with some of the other cell leaders. The three were on their own.

"See those two over there?" Naruto pointed out Sasuke who was sitting on a bench glaring at him (a bench in the shade of course) and Sakura who was under a tree. "Heh, I walked in on them." He waggled his eyebrows at the old lady to whom he was telling his story to. She gasped, eager to hear more. "Yeah, they were on my living room floor! Can you believe it? The girl of my _dreams_ and the _jerk_ who _knows_ it! My BEST friends, to-boot!" Naruto growled in Sasuke's direction for effect.

"Clothes were flying _everywhere_!" he continued, not noticing that Sasuke had risen to his feet and was stalking over to him, eyes glowing bright red. The old lady did, however – she gasped again and started backing away. Naruto finally turned, coming nose to chest with a _very_ angry Uchiha.

"When I'm angry enough, I have noticed, my fangs grow conveniently longer and my eyes go red, and it's not the Sharingan." He made sure Naruto got a glimpse at his teeth. "And I'm hungry. So, either you shut the_ hell_ up, or I'll close that over-sized mouth _for_ you." Naruto swallowed hard and quickly turned back to the old lady who had paled considerably.

"And, umm… It turned out to be two newlyweds in the wrong house – TELL ALL!" he dashed away as fast as he could.

----------------------------

Sakura stalked down the street at a pace so fast, people in her way had to jump to get out of it.

"You going so fast!" A shop woman grabbed her wrist in attempt to slow her. "You slow down, yes?" She patted Sakura's cheek.

"Fine, whatever." She snatched her arm away and turned sharply to keep walking, but crashed into something solid. "_SHIT_!" she screamed landing hard on her buttocks.

"Oh, I'm – Sakura?"

Sasuke!

It was _Sasuke_!

Why now?

'I can't face him yet!' Sakura thought frantically.

He reached out his hand to her. She took it, her face beginning to flush. "S-sorry…" Sakura nodded as he helped her up, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Oh! My orange stand! You knocked over my orange stand!" Sakura looked up and saw an old man rushing towards them, babbling about when they had collided, they had upset his display of oranges. They were now currently rolling and bouncing all over the street. "You!" he pointed at them. "You, clean them up!"

Sakura nodded and started running after the fruit, still not looking at Sasuke. She kept her eyes down whenever he happened by in front of her. She could feel him watching her as well, which added to her embarrassment.

After fifteen minutes of orange-chasing, they had all that they could find together in a neat pile. Sasuke helped the vendor right his stand and Sakura started placing the oranges carefully, one by one on its surface.

"Sorry," she said for the umpteenth time. The vender waved her off and worked on his display. "I seem to be doing that a lot these days…" she mumbled walking away slowly.

"Both times it was my fault." Sasuke said eyeing her. "Something wrong?" Sakura shook her head. They walked in silence for a minute. Sakura looked up.

"Um," they both said at the same time.

"You go first…" she said fingering the hem of her shirt.

"No, you can –" Sasuke stopped himself.

"Just… I wanted to say… sorry… about the other day… that was kinda embarrassing." she peeked at Sasuke, he nodded.

"Yeah, um… me too." A small smile found its way on his –beautiful- lips and he slowed his pace. "Actually, I was going…" he pointed in the opposite direction.

"Right!" Sakura said quickly. "Uh…"

"I better go."

"Okay… See you later!" Sasuke cleared his throat and turned around and began walking away.

--

Sasuke's mind wandered. He didn't have to leave so early. It's not like he was in a hurry. He wasn't even going anywhere in particular! They could have talked and – WHAT WAS HE THINKING!

_SAKURA_! She was the annoying little girl who was _obsessed_ with him… Annoying girl with the big forehead and who followed him _everywhere_! The annoying girl who always got perfect scores and tried to show off just for him… The annoying girl… _beautiful woman_… who didn't seem so annoying anymore…

Sasuke was shocking himself. (This seemed to be happening a lot lately.) Why was he – of all people – thinking like _this_? Sakura haunted his thoughts and he couldn't chase her away. And when there was a time where he wasn't thinking about her, she was right in front of him…

Bright green eyes and silky hair.

"Oh my GOD, Sasuke, SHUT UP!" he covered his ears with his hands and squeezed his eyes shut. _What was happening to him! _

This was exactly the way he _should not_ be acting! This was unlike him, and he was starting to scare, which was even _more_ unlike him!

Where was Sakura? She could –

NO! MUST NOT THINK ABOUT –

SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!

'I'm hungry, dammit! HUNGRY!' Sasuke opened his eyes and looked around, but none of the people around him looked biting-worthy. (Not to mention, they were all starting to back slowly away from him…)

If he were with Sakura, she'd probably slit her own wrist for him –

"STOP IT!" Sasuke screamed angrily at the sky.

He needed to get out of the sun. The heat must be getting to him…

He ran the rest of the way home and locked himself inside, breathing heavily.

His chest was starting to ache as he paced around his bedroom. What this what they called love?

Wait a moment.

SAKURA? LOVE? _HIM_!

No, no, no, no, no… Not him. Not Uchiha Sasuke. He DID NOT fall in love. He DID… not? A small voice somewhere in the back of his mind begged to differ. And it was that little voice that grew louder and louder until it was the only thing ringing in his mind. So loud he had to shout just to hear himself.

HE WAS IN LOVE WITH HARUNO SAKURA!

"I AM IN LOVE WITH –" He stopped himself. "No." he squeaked very quietly and falling to the floor.

This couldn't be.

He had to drain Sakura… If he wanted to be normal again… but… That would mean _killing_ her.

It wasn't worth it. It couldn't be.

He could live like this. But…

What did Sakura think…? About… him. Now that he was different.

Sasuke sighed.

'One step at a time.' He told himself getting up off the floor and walking slowly to his door. 'One step at a time…'


	5. 5 Twelve Foot Scarf 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto and company. -sobs- But I do, however, own Penelope and Christoph

**Eripmav**

**Part Two, Chapter Two**

---------

**Sakura sighed heavily, sitting herself down on an abandoned park bench.** She didn't even look at him. What if he took that as a sign she was mad at him? Did he even _care_? – Probably not. She buried her face in her hands.

Why had she wasted her life away trying to win a losing game? Sasuke would never – _could_ never even _like_ her. It just wasn't like him… to be all nice and happy… romantic and… and… And?

Sasuke was cold and… mean – truth be told. His pleasure was ignoring her and beating up Naruto.

He trained to kill.

Sakura suddenly noticed the silent tears running down her cheeks.

"Ooh…" she sobbed. "My makeup is going to run…" This sucked.

She was all alone on a cold, hard park bench with not a sole around, Sasuke couldn't love her, and her makeup was a mess. /Ha, ha/ Inner Sakura pushed into her mind. She sobbed harder – Even her inner self was laughing at her.

Well, as the saying goes, 'Life sucks, and then–

"Sakura?" Said a small voice; she looked up and saw Sasuke fidgeting a few paces away.

'Life sucks and then the boy you are totally in love with shows up in time to see you look your absolute _worst_.'

"Sasuke!" She covered her face. "No! Don't look at me! I'm a mess and" – Something warm was wrapping itself around her shoulders. She slowly peeked through her fingers and saw Sasuke's arms circling around her.

"Sakura?" he asked again a little louder. Sakura was tempted to start sobbing into his shoulders and snuggle deeper into his chest. "I… I know how to change back." He paused and took a deep breath. "I have to drink… drain the blood of somebody I love…" Sakura shuddered. How horrible! But… why was he telling _her_ this?

"But," he continued, "That would mean killing that person… (God that sounded stupid)…" Sakura nodded slowly, not picking up where this was going. "And I don't want that to happen to you." He finished lamely. Sakura's head snapped up, her mouth parted in shock.

Did… did he just say, in an odd way that she may not have fully understood, that he _loved_ her?

"You… have… to… ME?" she squeaked. Sasuke nodded turning away, his cheeks starting to color. He let her go and folded his hands in his lap. "B-but you drank my blood before and…" she trailed off. She knew full well that he had said _drain_ the blood of… Too much information was trying to crowd its way into her brain. But the one article that took up the most space was the fact that Sasuke had just admitted he loved her. HER! Most of her mind cheered wildly, Inner Sakura groaned loudly.

But…

"Here," she heard herself say without realizing what she was doing… She suddenly found a kunai in her hand and was just noticing that she was about to slice her wrist when Sasuke grabbed her hand, squeezing it hard; she gasped.

"No." he said firmly.

"But… We're alone, nobody will know. It'll look like a freak accident, and you can get your life back." That probably sounded rash …

"I wouldn't be able to live with something like that on my shoulders." He said quickly. "No." he said again slowly letting her go.

/AH! I DUN WANNA DIE! I DUN WANNA DIE/ Inner Sakura shrieked running around in circles. Sakura was numbed of all thoughts but one.

"I want you to be happy."

"Sakura, that's just lame." He rolled his eyes.

"Sasuke…"

"Don't even try. I wouldn't if my life depended on it."

"What do you know! It DOES! You almost killed me before…!" Sasuke glared at her. What did that have to do with anything? "Would you do it if I asked you to?" Sakura smiled weakly.

"I... no." sweat started to bead on his forehead. Sakura leaned over and kissed him lightly. _He_ knew he would if she asked him to, and _she_ knew it as well… and she planned on asking.

Sasuke started to pull back, but relaxed after a few seconds. Sakura broke the kiss and looked up at him through her eyelashes.

"Please?" That was all it took. She could actually see the moment when his heart shattered into a million pieces and he crumbled from the inside out. She knew that he would now.

And seeing the pain in his eyes, she almost changed her mind. But she wasn't given the time to think about it because he leaned forward and pressed his mouth against her neck.

"Are you sure?" He whispered his breath tickling. She nodded, gasping when his teeth sank into her flesh. She welcomed the feeling… ……

---

"STOP!" Sasuke shifted his eyes upward. Penelope was running towards him, skirts flying. He pulled away from Sakura, she fell limp against him. "NO! I WAS WRONG!" she came to a sliding halt in front of him.

"What…?" Sasuke asked calmly.

"I was wrong. All that will get you is a full belly and a dead girl." Sasuke's eyes widened and he looked down at Sakura. She slowly opened one eye and smiled weakly.

"Is… that… all?" she managed to gasp, eyes slightly wider than before drooping closed again.

"She's on a straight path to death." Penelope said sadly, shaking her head.

"No! Is there no way to help her?" Sasuke looked around frantically. It couldn't end like this. Why did he listen to her in the first place? It was a crazy idea!

"Don't be an idiot!" Penelope rolled her eyes. "You _are_ a vampire."

"That means nothing to me." He growled. Penelope rolled her eyes again and brought her wrist to her mouth and bit it. She held it out to him.

"What's that for?" he asked hugging Sakura tightly.

"Duh." Penelope sighed. "How do you think _you_ got changed?"

"CHANGED! NO! NOT SAKURA!" He looked down at her pale face and touched her hair.

"Well, then kiss her good_bye_. There is no other way." Sasuke ran his tongue over his teeth. He held up his hand.

"I guess… I…" He took a deep breath and bit himself. He felt his wrist throb as blood pumped freely out of it. "Sakura…" he called softly. She, again, cracked one eye open.

"I… think I'm going to die." She sighed. She knew she was. She could already feel everything inside her slowing down. Sasuke shook his head.

"No, you're not. Drink this." He held up his wrist to her lips. She stiffened for a second, but didn't protest...

------------------------------------------------

"_You_." Sasuke glared at Penelope.

"Me!" she said cheerfully.

"You… told me the wrong thing! I could have KILLED her!"

"True. But you would have anyway, realize."

"I…" Sasuke huffed. "It might have been…" he growled in frustration.

"Yes, you could have killed her, but you didn't." Penelope laughed.

"But –"

"Oh, you were lucky this time, so take a chill-pill! What happened happened."

"True." Sakura added. Sasuke turned and watched her for a moment. She seemed to take her change very well. Naruto hadn't been told yet. Sasuke and Sakura were waiting for the right time…

"Is there no way to reverse it?" Sasuke found himself asking again and beginning to pace to length of his living room.

Sakura was curled up on the couch, elbow on the arm and head in her hand. Penelope stood in the corner, hands neatly folded behind her back.

"Who knows!" she replied happily. "Best not ask me, though. I haven't needed to remember, so I have forgotten. You should ask Christoph, he would know." She winked and glided to the door.

"Oh!" she turned, "forgot to mention last time, you cannot turn into bats. (I mean, _really_! Who thought up that one?) And prepare to be around for a long, long time… if you don't get changed back, that is." She winked again and disappeared.

"Where can we find Christoph?" Sakura asked looking up at Sasuke. He shrugged.

"I'm sure she'll come back and tell us in a few days." He sighed and sat down. "Welcome to hard living. I'm sorry you had to get changed." Sasuke slumped forward placing his elbows heavily onto his knees and burying his face in his hands. This was all his fault. And it went as far back as the attack just after their mission. He should have listened to her…

_"Sasuke! We're all tired… you should take a break! Pay no attention to them. Besides, they may be tougher to handle than they look!" Sakura looked up at him, her green eyes tired and worried. _

_But he was Uchiha Sasuke, and he didn't run from fights…_

"Don't worry about it!" Sakura smiled. "I'm glad I got changed!" Sasuke lift his head and blinked at her.

"_Why_?" But before Sakura could answer him, Naruto walked in. "DO YOU EVER KNOCK?" Sasuke shouted aggravated, and rose to his feet.

"Nope!" Naruto grinned making a beeline for Sasuke's fridge. "Drat, nothing good for humans to eat…" he sighed and wandered back to the living room. "So," he plopped down opposite of Sakura. "Now what?"

"Well, um…" Sakura shifted her position as Sasuke sat down next to her. "We have something to tell you –"

"YOU'RE PREGNANT!" Naruto jumped to his feet. "I _KNEW_ IT!" His eyes blazed and he turned his angry gaze onto Sasuke, who turned pale.

"No, Naruto, not this time," Sakura giggled furiously when Sasuke turned to her, shocked, the rest of his color draining away from his face. "Actually, I have been turned too." She looked back up at Naruto who had gone nearly as pale as Sasuke, if not more. (Sasuke, at this time is thinking: 'What the hell does she mean 'not _this_ time…'?')

"I think," Naruto said weakly as he sat back down, "You being pregnant would have been a better answer. – So like, really… Now what?" he swallowed.

"We look for somebody named Christoph." Sakura smiled. "… I'm hungry." She added rather suddenly, Naruto jumped to his feet and started backing away. "Oh, don't worry! I'm not in the mood for Naruto… At the moment." She licked her lips playfully.

"Right, well… Just the same… I should be running along…" He bowed goodbye and leapt for the door.

"Wow." Sasuke leaned against the back of the sofa, his arms folded across his chest. "You got rid of him." He smirked. "All you have to do is mention hunger and he'll bolt. I should remember that…"

------------------------------------------

The next morning Penelope was standing in Sasuke's doorway. He didn't bother asking her how she got there (he knew for a fact he locked his door) because he probably wouldn't get a straight answer.

"You're back sooner than expected." He drawled brushing the hair out of his eyes.

"Oh, shut up." She glared at him. "I came to tell you, I forgot the mention where to find Christoph."

"Figured." Sasuke rolled his eyes pulling on a smoky-grey T-shirt and heading towards the coffee machine.

"Coffee stunts your growth, you know." Penelope stated. "You shouldn't drink it so much, it's horrible for you!" She crossed her arms.

"Yeah, well, you _should_ drink coffee," Sasuke looked her up and down. "You're the living Empire State Building!" The tall vampire snarled at him before adjusting his posture so she looked shorter. "What about Christoph." Sasuke sighed looking over his steaming mug and sipping it.

"He lives on the top of Citnagig Mountain." And with that, she left.

Sasuke re-filled his cup of coffee and sat down on his couch. He closed his eyes – savoring the silence around him. He sighed, sinking deeper into the cushions. He thought… Sakura. Her change… That would forever be weight on his shoulders, no matter _what_ she said. She almost died, and it was his fault… But she had been so willing and eager to give up her life so he could live normally again. _'I want you to be happy.' _

… Odd. Her saying that struck a chord somewhere in his chest. Yes, he already loved her, but her saying that seemed to push him a little further so he fell down deeper. He fell even further for her, even when he didn't think he could.

He wasn't one for expressing emotions, so throughout the years, nobody would have guessed. But he admired her, and appreciated everything she did. Just, this year, he cracked and couldn't hold it in any longer. He thought he had more time to prepare himself… But his sudden vampiric change twisted things around…

He was just drifting off when there was a faint knocking on his front door. He heaved himself up off the couch and trotted to his front door.

"Um, hi." Sakura shifted her weight. "I didn't know you would be up yet, but I came over just in case… I saw Penelope wandering by my house, and I was wondering if you heard… about Christoph…" Sasuke didn't say anything but stepped aside to let her in.

Sasuke admitting that he loved her, so far, hadn't changed much. Sakura sighed inwardly. Too bad… Yes, he was slightly more friendly than usual… Maybe he just needed to sort out his feelings and see if he was ready for the emotional struggle that would be ahead if they got together. Sakura smiled. He was such a shy guy…

She began fidgeting nervously when she noticed he was wearing something other than his traditional Uchiha garb… A simple shirt and boxers… (Well obviously he didn't wear his normal clothes to bed!) She cleared her throat.

"So… did you…?" Sasuke nodded.

"Yeah, he's somewhere on the top of Citnagig Mountain." Sakura gasped and said: "That Mountain is gigantic! I hope she's right this time…"


	6. 6 Twelve Foot Scarf 3

**Authors Note: **I have a special warning for this chapter. Suddenly, and rather randomly, you will notice something very random suddenly happen (in an authors note, don't worry, it shouldn't confuse you TOO much) Anyway, my friend asked me to put her in the story, and I said I would. Prepare for some supreme randomness.

Sophia-Chan, this one is for you!

Pardon the MAJOR OOC-ness on Sasuke's part in this story... Sweat Drop

'Scuse the fast-passed-ness of this story, as well… I'm not one for details…

**Eripmav  
Part Two, Chapter Three**

** "So…" Naruto scratched his head. **"You have to hike to the top of a huge mountain just to see some guy for five minutes that might not even exist? Sakura nodded.

"You're welcome to come along, of course," she smiled.

"Well… I guess it couldn't hurt… I need to get out, what with lack of missions and all… Sure, yeah! I'll come!" He grinned.

"Dead-last coming too?" Sasuke asked sliding into the ramen-shop booth with Sakura and Naruto. Sakura nodded.

"Yup!" Naruto's grin broadened. "Somebody has to keep you two in line!" Sakura giggled and Sasuke glared.

"When do you plan on leaving?" Sasuke turned to Sakura, changing the subject and ignoring the blonde across from him. Sakura shrugged.

"Um… tomorrow?" She poked his nose. "When do _you_ want to leave?" she asked cutely.

"Tomorrow sounds good." He grabbed her hand and pulled it away from his face and didn't let go. Naruto scrunched up his nose.

"I would just like to say, this is very odd seeing Sasuke _friendly_." Sasuke let go of Sakura and turned away from her with a 'huff', proving that he did _not_ have to be friendly

"Oh, Naruto, don't be mean." Sakura slid closer the raven-haired boy and threw her arms around his neck. "You're just jealous!" Sasuke detached himself and stood.

"I'm going to… go get ready for tomorrow." He glanced at Naruto, then Sakura, unsure about what to do next. Should he lean over and give her a kiss? Or… He came to the conclusion just as he was starting to lean over that kissing a girl in front of somebody (Naruto more importantly) was a little too out of character for him. He already tolerated more physical touch than he usually did… That was his love-sharing for the day… or maybe the week…

---------------------------------------

Birds sang cheerfully under the constant shadow of Citnagig. Its top wasn't visible for clouds constantly blanketed it. They were, way up high, creating snowstorms that were rarely nonexistent no matter what the overall weather was.

Sakura had awoken bright and early this day and found Naruto sleeping on her doorstep when she went out for the newspaper. His eyes slowly opened and he sat up, ginning. After seeing hat, she forgot the newspaper and shut the door. Five minutes later he was to be found in her kitchen.

Sasuke had awoken as usual. After his coffee, he wandered around his house, sat and thought on his couch, then left when he thought it was a good time to leave – without cleaning anything up. (He had a sneaking suspicion that Penelope would find her way to his house and do that for him).

---

All three walked in silence for the majority of the morning. Sakura tried to pass long, secret messages to Sasuke with her eyes, but he usually just cocked an eyebrow at her and shrugged, turning away. Whether he got those messages, Sakura couldn't tell. But she pretended she did.

**(Random AN:** Suddenly, a random person with a random name of Sophia randomly appeared! As soon as she saw Sasuke, her eyes went randomly starry – Sasuke glared – But, who's that random person out yonder? She turned, and rather randomly, screamed "KIRA!" and ran away with her hands waving madly (and randomly) in the air above her head. Sasuke muttered: "She amounts to nothing." **AN2:** Inside joke, ya'll ignore, has nothing to do with the story. LOL

When the sun was high in the sky – and Sakura and Sasuke felt rather over-heated – they stopped. The gigantic mountain loomed overhead and looked so close – but the three had far to go to get there.

"So," Sasuke sat next to Sakura a tree. "You couldn't get enough of me before and _had_ to stare at me all morning…?" Sakura felt the color rise in her cheeks.

"Um… I was trying to… talk to you." She felt rather stupid telling him that, but Inner Sakura disagreed with her feelings and bluntly told her that she _was_ stupid for telling him that.

"Talk to me." Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "You may be telepathic, but I'm pretty sure I'm not." He smirked.

"Are you sure?" Sakura questioned, not wanting to be the only one feeling like an idiot. "Here, what am I thinking?" she looked directly into his eyes, hoping a kiss would follow. He watched her for a second then shrugged.

"Do I want to know?" Sakura frowned then nodded. "Okay, whatever." He stared at her then smiled. "You have a whole stash of chocolate in your backpack." Sakura's eyes widened.

"Yes! I mean, that wasn't what I was thinking, but how did you know!" Sasuke shrugged again. And said: "I've known you since you were twelve. That seemed like something you would do." He cocked his head to the side and added: "You brought chocolate on other missions."

"I guess I have to share now, huh?" Sakura reached for her bag.

"Definitely."

----------

The group made it to the darkest part of the shadow by late afternoon and stopped to camp. They were so close they had to look up as far as they could just to see the clouds covering the tip. Early the next morning they would start hiking the base. So far, this mission seemed rather simple.

Sakura stared into the jumping flames of their fire. She felt weak with hunger, but there was nothing she could do about it – unless, of course, somebody walked down the road right beside where they had set up camp. Sasuke paced, thinking the same thing. Naruto munched happily on some crackers, oblivious to the fact he was looking very tasty at that moment.

"Hello there!" somebody called. Sakura snapped to attention – somebody was on the road! What excellent luck! She leapt to her feet.

An old woodsman – large and beefy – stood on the road looking out from under his bushy eyebrows at them. "You lost?" he asked, a massive hand shielding his eyes so he could see the three better.

Sasuke took a step forward, Sakura close behind.

"Nope!" Naruto said cheerfully, afraid he knew what his companions were up to. "We're going up Citnagig!"

"For fun?" the man asked, eyebrows rising. (They oddly reminded Naruto of Gai and Rock-Lee)

"Naw! Gotta see somebody named Christoph. You heard of him?" Sasuke froze in his advance. Naruto was smarter than he looked… they might be able to get some useful information… The man thought for a moment, rubbing his chin.

"…Yeah! Lives right in the storm – I heard. Never actually seen him though."

"Is that a scarf?" Sakura asked; the man eyed her strangely.

"Uh, yeah…" he unwound it from his neck and held it out to her. "Wanna see?"

"Oh, yes please." Sakura took it from him but didn't look at it. The man was suddenly uneasy.

"I'm Sasuke." The Uchiha held out his hand to the woodsman in a friendly way. He -stupidly- took it. Sasuke moved forward, clapping his hand on his shoulder. "You're a good man." He said, eyes twinkling. Sakura jumped forward dropping the scarf and biting into the woodsman's neck the same time Sasuke did.

He cried out and struggled for a minute before falling limp. Sasuke and Sakura drank mouthfuls of his warm bitter-sweet fluids…

--

Sasuke pulled away and detached Sakura. The man fell heavily to the ground.

"He has lots of blood," Sasuke told her licking his lips, "and he could spare more, but with the two of us so hungry, we better not risk killing him." Sakura nodded, feeling shaky with excitement. Naruto screwed up his face in disgust.

Sakura slowly ran her tongue over her lips.

"Mmm…" she looked up at Sasuke. "Human blood tastes so much better than raw steak. I could get used to this…" she giggled, looking longingly at the pale woodsman on the ground.

"Don't." he replied turning away and sitting down by the fire.

"Shouldn't we move him before he wakes up?" Naruto questioned glancing uneasily at the limp body on the ground.

"No." Sasuke sighed. "We will be long gone by the time he wakes up."

Sakura silently yawned and curled up on the ground. She was asleep before she could even say goodnight.

----------------------------------

The sun had barely popped over the horizon when Sasuke lightly shook Sakura awake. /What a face to wake up to/ Inner Sakura said glaring. Sakura agreed, but not in the way her inner self had thought.

"We should get going." He said softly as Sakura sat up.

"Is Naruto awake?" she asked stifling a yawn.

"Yeah, he said he'd scout ahead and wait for us if there are no problems." Yes! She was alone with him! Inner Sakura groaned – fearing the near future.

'I thought you liked him too!' Sakura thought at herself. /I didn't say I didn't. It's my job to disagree with you/ Inner Sakura said looking at her nails. /Besides, there are other cute guys out there/ Sakura rolled her eyes.

Sasuke was stomping out the remains of the fire, Sakura watched his every move. /Go for it/ Inner Sakura said suddenly. 'I thought you were against me…' /I changed my mind/ Inner Sakura started to walk forward, but Sakura didn't move – which meant she didn't get very far.

Sasuke straightened. He turned and watched her watch him. /Wow. You're really good at this, aren't you/ Inner Sakura slumped away.

"Trying to talk to me again?" Sasuke smirked his trademark smirk. A thought of Sasuke wildly kissing her snuck its way into her thoughts, which she dismissed almost as soon as it showed up. She shook her head. "Oh, well… are you just listening to me then?" Sakura cocked her head in confusion. "Too bad." Sasuke took a step forward.

"Are you trying to talk to _me_?" Sakura took a step back. He shrugged.

"Naw. I gave up on that when you didn't reply. Are you ready to leave now?" He turned away.

Sakura heard herself say no, which was very shocking and embarrassing at the same time – and she thought that maybe her inner self had somehow taken over her body. A small voice in the back of her head told her otherwise, sadly. Sasuke turned to her again, eyebrows raised.

"Really?" He looked around. "You're all packed… What else do you need to do?" An honest question – which made Sakura freeze. She hadn't really been the one who had said 'no' in the first place, so how was she supposed to answer? But if she tried to explain this out loud, Sasuke would think her out of her mind. She shrugged.

Sasuke turned his head ever so slightly, eyeing her suspiciously. He may have admitted that he loved her, but he wasn't the type of guy to turn all romantic – which was a shame.

"So... then why can't we leave yet?" He licked his lips. 'Why is he asking such difficult questions?' Sakura screamed mentally, throwing her hands into the air in exasperation. 'Just shut up and kiss me already!' She shifted her weight and looked down at her feet. Her cheeks were growing steadily warmer.

Sasuke closed the space between them and put his finger on her chin, tilting her face upward so she was forced to look at him.

"What are you thinking?" He asked narrowing his eyes.

"I…" she trailed off. What _was_ she thinking? "Don't know." She finished lamely. Sasuke laughed.

"I think you do, you just don't want me to know." His eyes sparkled. "Am I right?" That part of Sakura took her over again, and she felt herself nodding. "Then what are you thinking?"

"Do you really want to know?" She was horrified! How could she have asked something like that? 'No you don't! PLEASE say you _don't_ want to know…!' she cried in her head.

Well, he didn't say it, but he _did_ nod his head. Sakura froze. Why, oh why was this happening to her?

Her knees went numb when she reached up and grabbed his head, crashing her lips into his. 'AHH!' she screamed. Half of her wanting more, and the other half wanting to pull away for some reason or another; she had kissed him that day on the park bench… but… not like this… Inner Sakura had returned out of no where and was cheering wildly.

With her thoughts (and mouth) otherwise distracted, she hadn't noticed Sasuke's arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer until it was too late. 'No turning back now…' she thought – regaining control of her body once again.

And that's how they were when the woodsman woke up.

Sakura had tangled her fingers in Sasuke's hair and was exploring his mouth when something hard and heavy hit her in the back of her head. She screeched and felt her knees buckle for a moment before she could turn and see what had hit her. She turned, leaning into Sasuke for balance.

The woodsman was propped up against a tree – a fair sized rock in one of his large hands.

"Monsters!" he yelled throwing the rock but missing widely.

"You ready to go _now_?" Sasuke whispered into her ear. She nodded as another rock was hurled at them. He let her go and walked purposely forward. The woodsman froze mid-throw. He calmly reached down and picked up his bag then Sakura's and nodded towards the woodsman. "Thanks for the grub." He said, even though Sakura could not see his face, she had a sneaking suspicion that he was grinning evilly.

He took hold of Sakura's elbow and steered her towards the mountain. Her whole body was without sensation. She wasn't sure if it was because she had just been his in the back of the head, or if she was in shock about how Sasuke was kissing her… or maybe both... Inner Sakura didn't say anything.

Sakura didn't realize they had caught up with Naruto until a hand was waved in front of her face.

"Is she okay?" she heard the blonde ask.

"I think so… she doesn't have a concussion… though, that rock still hit her pretty hard." Sakura swallowed. /he…/ Inner Sakura gasped. /is an awesome kisser/ Sakura agreed, not pushing away the image that suddenly popped into her mind again.

"Sakura?" She finally focused her eyes. Naruto was bending over her with a worried expression. She blinked. "Are you okay?"

"Um…" she sat up. When had she lain down? Last she remembered she was walking… "I think so…" she blinked a number of times more. Sasuke stood not far away, a tiny smirk playing on his lips. Sakura guessed that he knew why she was feeling a little light-headed, but he said nothing.

"Do you think we could get going?" Naruto stood up and offered his hand to Sakura, who took it. She nodded and reached for her bag.

----------------------------------------

The trudge up the mountain base wasn't as difficult as expected – but the climb ahead all but shouted to the world: 'Ha, ha, ha! You'll never get up me!' But, if Christoph had done so, they could too… Unless, of course, Christoph was a mountain goat… Sakura snorted. If Christoph was a mountain goat, she'd go crazy. She hated goats…

They stopped at the bottom of some very mean looking cliffs to rest and decide on the next plan of action. Naruto suggested creating a whole bunch of doppelgangers stacking up then climbing up _them_ – but that idea was quickly pushed aside into the stupid, useless, don't-even-go-there pile (Where most of his suggestions ended up).

"Why not just walk up the cliff face concentrating our chakra to our feet?" Sasuke said finally. Sakura felt stupid for not thinking about that in the first place, and Naruto shut his mouth entirely. Thus – our favourite trio made it up the cliffs without too much trouble (only having to rescue Naruto four times).

"When Penelope said 'complicated'," Sakura gasped, energy draining fast. They may not have had much to do so far, but they were high up and the air was thinning; not to mention, they had just used a lot of chakra. "She was wrong, wasn't she?" Sasuke shrugged.

"We don't know how to get changed back yet, so I wouldn't count your chickens just yet." Naruto snapped to attention.

"Chicken?" Nobody answered him.

----

They didn't travel anymore that day. Tomorrow afternoon they would be getting snowed on, and they needed to save their energy.

Naruto amused himself by throwing rocks over the cliff edge to see if he could hear them hit the bottom. Sakura daydreamed about earlier that day, and Sasuke stared off into space – not doing much (but possibly also daydreaming about the same thing Sakura was – but he'd never admit that!)

Sakura grinned up at the cloudy sky. /It would be so easy to push Naruto off the mountain…/ Inner Sakura pointed out. Sakura agreed. /Then we could be alone again…/ She grinned evilly at Sasuke who had closed his eyes. She plotted out different scenarios of how to get alone… (All of which took place after she was done reliving earlier events a number of times over, of course.)

Naruto tossed a larger rock over – leaning so he could watch it crack into halves. The noise of it breaking was delayed, and this thrilled him greatly. He started looking for other things to throw over the edge. His eyes fell upon Sasuke, but he didn't move, knowing he would be next as soon as Sakura noticed the dark-haired snob missing. He threw over a kunai instead.

Sasuke's thoughts drifted. The thrill of killing his brother (which he hadn't gotten around to do just yet) to Sakura – he smiled – to the taste of blood in his mouth and its texture over his tongue. He was starting to enjoy his change… No wonder Penelope was still a vampire. Unless this was some wild goose chase to get him to enjoy the change – which he half hoped it was. But the thought of Sakura enjoying bloodshed made him change his thoughts to: 'If this is for nothing I will personally strangle Penelope then hang her by her toes over a steaming pile of camel dung and leave her there until flies infest her armpits.'

---

The night was cold. Sakura felt the half of her that said and did crazy things (sometimes stupid and wonderful things) take over as she crawled towards Sasuke's sleeping form. What, exactly, she was planning on doing, she wasn't sure – even Inner Sakura watched sleepily in order to find out.

His eyes snapped open (even though it was dark and Sakura couldn't really see them, she felt him stiffen and had guessed they had) when she picked up his arm and put it around her. He took a sharp intake of breath when she then put her head onto his chest. She let the wild side of her (which she had decided on calling it) keep control and didn't fight when she snuggled closer. Sasuke didn't object, but he didn't move either. She thought, for a second, that maybe she had mistaken Naruto for Sasuke… but she fell asleep again before she could double check.

'What… is… she… doing…?' Sasuke thought when Sakura had crawled over to him. Her breath had evened out and he guessed she had already fallen asleep. He allowed himself to relax – enjoying her warmth, and closed his eyes once again.


	7. 7 Don't Count Your Chickens Just Yet 1

**Eripmav**

**Part Three, Chapter One**

** Sasuke slowly willed his eyes to open. **Sakura had moved her arm to rest against his chest, which at the moment, he didn't mind at all. Naruto would probably flip if he saw them, but Sasuke no longer cared. …Though, just to make sure, he checked to confirm that Naruto was still asleep. He then, hesitantly mind, wrapped his arms around Sakura and closed his eyes again.

How odd. He never thought that he would ever be doing this. It felt peculiar for him. Emotions he had never felt before bubbled in his gut. He didn't quite know what to make of them, so he ignored them. They weren't bothering him so why care? They weren't bothering him _yet_ at least…

Sakura stirred, nuzzling her head up into Sasuke's shoulder. His heart began to race. Those emotions were bothering him now… He held still. He could feel her breath on his neck and he started to panic. Now they were REALLY bothering him… (Stupid emotions…) What was he doing? Maybe Naruto would wake up and rescue him from this torture, heavenly torture, but torture just the same… Naruto didn't wake. Sasuke wiggled his toes to see if he could still feel them. He whimpered mentally when they didn't respond. (He was an Uchiha, after all, and Uchiha's DO NOT whimper aloud. :P)

"You okay?" Sakura mumbled raising her head slightly. He swallowed. _Oh… God…_Sakura sat up and he sighed with relief. "We should probably… get moving." She said with a yawn and a stretch. He nodded.

Naruto woke next. (_Finally_! – A little late though.) He grinned at them and rose to his feet.

-------------------------

They moved slowly because of the cold and because they had to stop every few steps to catch their breath (**AN:** they are high up on the mountain, remember!)

"This Christoph guy," Naruto stopped, watching his breath cloud out in front of him. "Is crazy to be… living up here." Sakura nodded. They were almost at the top! Walls of white pressed in on them from all sides.

Naruto led the way claiming he had the best eyes. Sasuke allowed this so the blonde could feel like he was doing something of importance. The raven-haired boy had to bite back a laugh when Naruto walked into a wall that Sasuke (and a breathless Sakura) had seen a full minute before they got there. Naruto explained that he had seen it too, but shut his eyes from the cold at the wrong moment. ("Nice cover-up Dead-Last")

Sasuke now led the way – walking around the wall until he found the door. He waited for Sakura to catch up, then Naruto. He turned back to the door. And raised his hand to knock, but it flew open before he had even started. He took a pace back in surprise.

"I've been expecting you!" Said a voice, Sasuke looked down where a fair sized mountain goat grinned up at him. Sakura shrieked and fainted.

Sasuke reached out and caught Sakura just before she hit the ground, the goat frowned. (And how he managed to do such expressions, seeing as he is a goat, I'm not entirely sure, but just go with it! )

"Does she always do that?" he asked looking up at Naruto – he shrugged. The goat stepped aside and let Sasuke in first who was struggling under Sakura's weight. "You can put her on the futon over there." The goat said nodding towards the corner of the room.

The cottage was just a large square. A table on one wall, wall three futons by another, the door, and a fireplace on the last with a small mat in front of it. The room smelt of fire and hay. The majority of the wooden floor sported scattered straw.

Sasuke lay Sakura down gently, over lapping her hands on her middle. He patted her forehead (without realizing he was doing so) and stood.

"We are looking for a man named Christoph," Sasuke said crossing his arms. The cocked his head.

"A man named Christoph, eh? I don't know of any men named that…" The goat walked to the mat in front of the fireplace and sat down. "Who sent you?"

"Penelope." Sasuke replied uncrossing his arms and shifting his weight. (Did he just not say he was expecting them?) Naruto sat down next to Sakura who was starting to wake. The goats' eyes brightened.

"Oh! Penelope! How is the old gal?" The goat grinned a goat-y grin.

"Wrong again, it seems." Naruto sighed stroking Sakura's hand.

"Oh, I doubt she is. If she sent you to see a Christoph, then you have come to the right place!"

"Where is he then?" Sakura asked weakly as Naruto helped her to sit up. The goat smiled even wider.

"Right here!" he said. "I'm him! I'm Christoph!" Sakura's eyes widened and she fainted again, falling against Naruto. The goat frowned. Sasuke sighed heavily and Christoph stood.

"Hmm…" Christoph's frown deepened. "Is she ill?" He sat down again and looked up at Sasuke who joined Naruto. "What have you come for?" He asked changing the subject. "But, first, what are your names?"

"I am Uchiha Sasuke –"

"Oh, your first names is all I need, my memory is bad enough." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I am Sasuke, this is Naruto and Sakura. Sakura and I are… vampires."

"And you want to change back?" a half smile pulled on Christoph's mouth. "It is a very complicated process." Naruto groaned and Sasuke nodded for him to continue. "You have to collect four things – The dirt that covers the roots of a cursed tree, the wind off a dragon's wing, an egg of a phoenix, and the water from a nymph's pool." Sakura started to stir again.

"Wow! That sucks!" Naruto grinned. "I'm glad I don't have to be there."

"Mix all ingredients into a silver bowl –"

"Now you do." Sasuke rolled his eyes heavenwards. "We can't touch silver." Naruto moaned.

"And drink it." Christoph finished smiling pleasantly

"Mmm?" Sakura opened her eyes. "I fainted again didn't I?" She sat up. "What did I miss?"

"Christoph just told us how to change back." Sasuke stated turning to her.

"IT'S A GOAT, SASUKE!" Color began to rise in her cheeks. "GOATS CAN'T TALK!"

"Yes, I am a goat!" Christoph grinned. "But I am talking, aren't I?" Sakura screamed.

"Sakura, calm down," Sasuke reached out and touched her shoulder. But as soon as he made contact she snapped.

"YEEAAH!" she lunged forward and grabbed his neck. "IT'S A GOAT!" she screamed shaking him. "I _HATE_ GOATS!" Sasuke grabbed her wrists and pulled her away from him, holding her at arms length.

"Would you mind leaving us for a minute?" He growled struggling to keep Sakura at a distance. The goat frowned but trotted out of the door without complaint. As soon as Christoph left the room, Sakura fell limp.

"A… Goat…" she mumbled. Sasuke slowly, hesitantly let her go. She slumped down and sniffed. He had no idea what to do, and looked pleadingly at Naruto. The blonde had backed against the far wall as soon as Sakura had started strangling Sasuke. His eyes were wide and his face pale. If she would strangle Sasuke – Sasuke of all people! – Who knew what she would do to him!

------

Sakura sat quiet the rest of the evening, hugging her knees to her chest and staying as far away from Christoph as she could. Christoph seemed not to mind. He seemed to have forgotten she was scared out of her mind of him. Inner Sakura snarled whenever Christoph came too close.

Naruto looked on her with pity.

"Poor Sakura." He whispered to Sasuke that night. "She goes crazy whenever he comes within four feet of her." He laughed; Sasuke smirked in agreement. The color had drained from her face as Christoph walked back into the cottage covered in snow. His already white fur seemed frozen in a haphazard way and his little beard stuck out to the side like the wind had been in it too long.

"Looks like you are stuck here for the night!" he said cheerfully. Sakura whimpered. "It's quite stormy." He glanced at Sakura. "How is Anika?" he asked brightly.

"Sakura." Naruto corrected. "She's…fine." He cleared his throat.

"Could you help me with something, Sammy?" Christoph asked Sasuke. He rolled his eyes and stood.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked not bothering to correct the forgetful goat.

"Well, if Nathan could get some logs, than you could start a fire." Naruto grumbled as he tossed three logs into the fireplace. Sasuke crumpled up some paper and struck a match.

'How are you feeling, Saskia? Do you want some chicken broth?" Sakura's eyes went wide and she pressed herself against the wall, shaking her head wildly.

"If you say so." Christoph winked and walked over to his mat. "I'm turning in now, so if you wouldn't mind keeping it down…" He closed his big brown eyes after lying down and started snoring lightly.

"Sakura, why don't you try and get some sleep?" Sasuke sighed sitting down on the futon next to her. She shook her head.

"N…Not with that thing in here…"

"He's not going to hurt you." He leaned his head against the wall and watched her out of the corner of his eye. She shook her head again her mouth a thin line. "Are you hungry?"

"I… Yeah. Bt I always am these days." Sasuke nodded turning away completely. Naruto finally sat down on the third futon.

"It's almost like he was expecting a company of three for the night…" the blonde mused watching Christoph sleep.

"Oh, shit Naruto! Don't say that!" But, it was too late. The last of Sakura's color drained from her face. Sasuke cursed silently again as he moved closer her to her. He put his arm around her shoulders and prepared to be there for a long… long… time.

Sakura shivered, never taking her eyes off the sleeping goat.

---

"I think that she's asleep…" Naruto said peeking around Sasuke who nodded his head sleepily. 'Poor Sakura,' He thought watching Sasuke slowly nod off. 'To be afraid of such a simple creature...' He lay down, hands under his head. 'Poor Sakura,' He sighed. 'Having SASUKE as a boyfriend… or whatever he is to her now. I bet if I were her boyfriend I would treat her much better. I wouldn't be afraid to show my affection… even though NOW I'm not afraid to show my affection…' he smiled, but it slowly faded. 'Maybe that's where I went wrong.'

He sighed again, rolling onto his side. 'At least I'm to be of SOME use to her… I'm not totally useless on this trip.' He thought of the silver bowl and silently hoped that it was going to be an easy task. But somewhere, something hoped that it was going to be difficult, (even though it sounded easy) As Sasuke would say, 'Don't count your chickens just yet.' He hoped it would be difficult because if he completed the task, it would prove to Sasuke that he wasn't a dead-last…

Because, he wasn't… usually…

Dead-Last.

He sure felt dead-last. The only reason he was here was to stir a stupid silver bowl.

…

_Sasuke was beating him again. It wasn't the fact that he was getting his ass handed to him that peed him off, it was how much Sasuke was rubbing it in._

_"What's the matter dead-last, can't you keep up?" Sasuke taunted trotting circles around him. He felt the heat rise in him as he lunged for Sasuke – Naruto knew Sasuke would be able to easily dodge it the moment his feet left the ground, but he was too angry to care. _

_"SHUT UP, SASUKE!" He slid to a stop, a cloud of dust rising up around him. He threw his fist, hoping to mess up the dark-haired, pretty-boys' face. Of course, his fantasy didn't come true. Sasuke pealed with laughter._

_"Dead-last, you crack me up, you know that?" he smirked. "It is so amusing to watch you trying so hard!"_

_"Bastard." Naruto growled._

_"Excuse me?" Sasuke stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow, smirking._

_"You. Bastard." _

_"Really! Ha! Me: bastard. You: Dog." He laughed again._

Naruto felt something on his shoulder and he opened his eyes. They stung, and he was hot. He sat up – Sasuke was watching him. His temperature rose higher.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" he screamed at him. "You would be good for NOTHING if you weren't a part of such a high and mighty blood line!" Naruto suddenly knew his mistake as he watched the color drain from Sasuke's cheeks and his eyes widen. He heard Sakura gasp somewhere behind him.

Sasuke rose to his feet – unsteady. He swallowed hard, and forced his eyes into a cold glare. He turned slowly and walked calmly out of the cabin.

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered. Naruto finally turned. Her hands covered her mouth and her eyes were as wide as saucers. It was a dream. Sasuke had done nothing, and he lashed out at him. "How could you?" Sakura lowered her hands.

"I can't believe he didn't respond to that." Naruto cocked his head. Sakura rose to her feet as well, eyes on fire. "I wonder why…"

"Because," she said coldly, "he is _above_ replying to that." She stuck out her nose and stalked out after Sasuke. Christoph stared in shock at the blonde.

--------------------------------------

"Goodbye, Silvia! (Feel better soon!) Goodbye Steven and Nicolas! Come see me again!" The goat trotted happily in circles. Sakura watch him; clutching Sasuke's arm.

The hike down the mountain was probably harder than climbing up. Not because they kept slipping and tripping – because all of them were in bad moods and mad at somebody. Though, they had all agreed (If not out loud, than mentally) that all three were particularly angry at Naruto (even himself).

"Careful, it's slippery there," Sakura mumbled getting up off the ground for the umpteenth time. She – and probably Sasuke and Naruto would agree with her – was thankful that it wasn't snowing very hard and they could clearly see where they were going.

When they reached the cliffs, they had no idea how to get down them – but nobody voiced any ideas.

Sasuke suddenly grabbed Sakura's hand and helped her down onto a small ledge.

"Now, carefully step onto the one under it. Careful… Now, stay there." He jumped down, grabbing the rock face and then helped her down onto the next ledge.

None of them wanted to try simply walking down because it was so slippery, and they'd probably run out of energy half way down.

"I'm not going down that one." Sakura grabbed a root that was somehow sticking out of the rock. "It's too steep…!" Sasuke sighed and jumped down next to her. He then carefully slid down to the ledge below them.

"We're half way there," he said reaching up for her, not bothering to see how Naruto faired.

Sakura slid into Sasuke's arms and giggled something about fairy-tales – But nobody heard because Naruto drowned her out with his scream of terror.


	8. 8 Don't Count Your Chickens Just Yet 2

**Eripmav**

**Part Three, Chapter Two**

**"Naruto!" Sakura screeched, looking up.** Naruto hung over a particularly steep ledge, his legs dangling. He was only hanging on by his finger tips.

"Idiot." Sasuke mumbled letting go of Sakura and jumping up a ledge. "Hang on," he said louder, reaching out. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut, mouthing something that looked like 'I don't want to die!' over and over.

"Naruto! Don't be stupid! Open your eyes and look at me!" Sasuke hollered. Naruto slowly opened one eye, and then the other. "Reach out and grab my hand." Sasuke gripped the rock-face and stretched his hand out further. Naruto looked at it. "Grab it!" Sasuke clenched his teeth, still stretching further. "Grab my hand, I'll catch you!" Naruto looked skeptical then closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He waited a second, then let go of the cliff, throwing himself slightly towards Sasuke.

Naruto thought he was going to fall to his death. He didn't feel himself getting caught. Sasuke lied! He was getting him back for – Naruto felt something grab his sleeve. He opened his eyes. He was hanging, swaying back and forth, the grey rock just barely touching his nose.

"Don't just hang there, you idiot! Do you think I can hold you like this forever? Grab the shelf in front of you!" Naruto scrambled onto the ledge and Sasuke let him go.

"Are you okay?" Sakura called from a ledge over. Naruto nodded – his mind blank; Sasuke leapt -gracefully- back to Sakura.

This time, as our favorite trio made their way down, they looked out for each other. It wasn't until they were eight feet from the ground when our much loved blonde slipped again. Sasuke automatically reached out for him He caught the boys' collar, but didn't have the right footing to support the two of them, and they both fell to the ground. Sakura screamed as she watched them hit the bottom and slide a few feet.

"Whew, that was close." Naruto sighed, dangerously close to a tall black tree – his legs were spread wide – and it might have been painful if he had slid much further.

"You're such a nuisance, Naruto." Sasuke sighed without getting up. Sakura scrambled the rest of the way down the Cliffside.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" she ran to Sasuke first, who groaned.

"Don't you agree? He's a nuisance?" Sakura blinked then started laughing. A small smiled pulled at the corner of Naruto's lips before he too started to laugh. Sasuke smirked.

"Dude," Naruto said after a while. "What an odd tree…" He crossed his legs. Sasuke sat up and studied the tree before standing.

"Don't touch it." He said as Naruto extended a hand. "Sakura, can you get me one of those wild flowers?" He pointed a little ways away. Sakura's eyebrows knit together, but she went without question, and picked the prettiest one she could find.

"This is too easy," he mused reaching for the small flower Sakura held out to him. He walked a closer to the tree and tossed the flower at it. As soon as the blossom touched the black bark, it too turned dark and exploded into dust when it hit the ground. "Way too easy. This is a cursed tree." Naruto's eyes widened and he scrambled to get further away.

Sasuke knelt as the base of the massive tree and pulled out a kunai; he started digging.

"The soil here is black too… Does either of you have anything we can put some of this into?" Naruto shrugged and shook his head; Sakura pulled her bag open and rummaged though it.

"Chocolate wrappers?" she offered, pulling out a few sheets of the crumpled foil wrappers. Sasuke thought for a second then reached for them.

He smoothed out two of the wrappers and carefully placed some of the black soil into the center of one. He folded it up and crumpled the second sheet around it; he stood.

"Where can we put it?" Naruto asked (rather dumbly, might I add… but somebody has to say and ask the obvious and stupid questions…!)

"In one of our backpacks (Duh)." Sasuke swung his own off his shoulder and opened a small pocket on the side and placed the foil inside. "Task one complete."

"Right," Sakura frowned. "But where on earth are we supposed to find a _dragon_?"

---------------------------------------------------

Kakashi was waiting for them when they arrived back at the village; his foot tapping and arms folded neatly across his chest in an irritated manner. He greeted them with a glare.

"It's usually _me_ late for things." He drummed his fingers on his arms.

"We're late?" Naruto asked; eyes wide. "For _what_?" Kakashi froze.

"Well… nothing. But I'd like to _think_ you were late…" he smiled. "Where have you been? Running away _without_ me? I'm insulted!"

"Long story." Sasuke mumbled under his breath.

"Well," Sakura started, smiling, "I got turned –"

"By mistake!" Sasuke interrupted. Sakura continued: "And Naruto came with us up Citnagig Mountain to see some Christoph guy – who happened to be a _goat_! (shudder) – who Penelope said (Penelope is the girl who changed Sasuke) would know how to get us turned back." Her smile grew slightly. "It's something to do with the four elements."

"_Earth_ covering the roots of a cursed tree – _Wind_ off a dragon's wing – The egg of a _Fire_ bird – _Water_ from a nymph's pool." Naruto grinned. "Stir in a silver bowl and drink up!"

"Drink?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Dragons?" Sakura nodded. "Funny," he turned to her. "Wasn't it you who accused me of fairy tales? There are no dragons in _this_ world." Sakura's eyes went wide.

"W…What do you mean?" she sputtered.

"This Christoph the Goat must be pulling your leg. 'Wind off a dragon's wing'? That's impossible! Seeing as there are no such thing." Sakura swallowed.

"Shoot!" Naruto said mock-cheerfully.

"How are we…?" Sakura turned to Sasuke – who was looking at nothing.

"Unless," Kakashi cocked his head. "It is not literally 'Wind off a dragon's wing.'… That that is just a title for something."

"An alcoholic beverage, maybe?" Sasuke mused rubbing his chin.

"Or some type of smoke… or even a drug." Kakashi suggested; Sakura scrunched up her nose in disgust.

"Or something completely different." Naruto added. "Like… a perfume, or candle."

"Cosmetic?" Sakura piped up, Kakashi shrugged.

…

"Well," he said after a moment of silence. "You three must tell me all about this Christoph; we'll ponder your dragons later." He led the three into the village.

-----

"A talking goat?" Kakashi laughed. "Really?" He looked over at Naruto who was walking with a happy hop in his step.

"Yeah! Sakura fainted like, every time he came into the room! – And he kept forgetting our names." Naruto chuckled.

"I only fainted _twice_." Sakura glared; Inner Sakura giggled.

"Whatever." Naruto shrugged. "You did, however, pale and panic whenever he came too close or spoke to you."

"Sasuke… help me!" Sakura looked up at him.

"Can't. He speaks the truth." Sakura's shoulders drooped and she hung her head.

"I didn't know you were afraid of goats," Kakashi's visible eye sparkled with humour. Sasuke moved and wrapped his arms around Sakura, who had begun to growl. Kakashi's eyebrow went up – all humour disappearing, but returned again after a second.

Sasuke ignored Kakashi's reaction and Naruto's teasing smile. He needed to get used to physical contact. He wanted to prove that he wasn't… _all_… cold hearted.

"I'm so… _weak_… aren't I?" Sakura sighed and put her head on his shoulder. Sasuke said nothing. "Gee, thanks for agreeing with me." Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"You're not entirely helpless." Naruto grinned, echoing Sasuke's thoughts. "You kick _really_ hard."

"And you have amazing Chakra control – not to mention big brains." Kakashi put in smiling. (We assume he smiling, mind. Who knows what he does under that mask….) Sasuke still said nothing. He might talk to her later about this… She was a good kisser and premium at smothering his worries – even though that might not be the answers she was looking for, he was sure she's like them just the same.

He leaned closer to her and buried his nose in her hair; but looked up again when he heard a screech.

"You! Clean up!" Somebody had knocked over a venders stand. He smiled. Not a smirk, not an evil smile, but a _real_ smile. One rarely seen on his lips. One that made Uchiha Sasuke appear _friendly_. (One that would appall Itachi…)

"What?" Sakura was watching him. He nodded his head in the direction of the vender and startled shopper. Sakura giggled. "It's kind of nice knowing that that's not me this time. But I'm sure in the near future it will be." She sighed; Sasuke shrugged.

"Don't count your–"

"I know, I know. 'Don't count your chickens just yet'. You know that the real phrase is 'Don't count your chickens _before they hatch_', right? And that doesn't make entire sense at the moment." He shrugged again watching amused as a few people ran after the wandering pears that rolled all over the street.

"You two just gonna stand there, or are you gonna come have lunch with us?" Naruto leered rolling his eyes. Sasuke let go of Sakura and followed the blond.

He turned to see if Sakura was following as well. She smiled sweetly up at him. He took her hand and entwined his fingers with hers.


	9. 9 Dont Count Your Chickens Just Yet 3

**Eripmav **

**Part Three, Chapter Three**

**"Ow."**

"I told you."

"Pain."

"You should not have gone."

"Mmm-mmm!" Sakura tearlessly sobbed.

"Now you know," Sasuke stated calmly, "Not to play tennis, go swimming, and sit around in the sun all day without sunscreen, and more importantly, without any shade!" he rolled his eyes, starting to smile.

Sakura was laying on her kitchen floor – sun-burned a bright red that clashed horribly with her hair. She sighed heavily. "Why didn't you try to stop me?" she sat up.

"I did." He passed her a wet cloth and aloe Vera gel.

"Not hard enough." She took the cloth and put it on her face after falling back onto the floor.

"You'll be fine tomorrow." Sasuke walked over to a window and lift the drapes up slightly, looking out at the late afternoon sun.

"It's _now_ that I'm worried about!" she sat up again then stood. "This is very painful, I'll have you know."

"I'd give you a hug, but you might crumble into a pile of ashes." Sasuke turned, a half smirk pulling at his lips. "So I will do my best to restrain myself and spare you that."

"Oh, you…" Sakura racked her mind for an insult to throw back at him, but she came up with nothing and just said: "Shut up."

Suddenly, Penelope was standing in the doorway. She had popped up every now and then to tell them things that she had forgotten on earlier visits. Naruto still hadn't fully gotten used to her sudden appearances and Sakura jumped every once in a while, Sasuke, on the other hand, was completely used to it. Probably because it was usually, if not always, around him that she did appear. It was like one of the most normal things – to turn around and have a tall vampire suddenly behind you, grinning. How she managed to always sneak up on them, shall remain a mystery.

This time, however, when Sasuke turned around, she was frowning.

"Ouch! In the sun too long?" Sakura grunted her reply. "Anyway," she turned back to Sasuke. "Have you figured out the wind thing?" Sasuke shook his head. It had been two weeks since coming home. So far, no dragons had been spotted, and with no dragons, no wind coming off their wings.

Kakashi had tried going into every pub and wine store (maybe more than once and more than needed) asking about 'Wind off a Dragons Wing'. Most people mistook him for a foreign guest – and the people that knew him just smiled politely and shook their heads.

"It'll turn up. I was just at Christoph's, asked him how to change back, (he had already long forgotten you) and he said the same thing. I've never known him to be wrong about something like this." She glanced at Sakura. "Do you want something for that? It looks painful…" Sakura just groaned.

"She'll live." Sasuke sighed. "How is Christoph?" Penelope shrugged, chocking her head.

"Forgetful." She smiled, "Anyhow, I better run along, tootles!" She winked and left.

"I should get going too." Sasuke sighed again. "I'll see you tomorrow." He was just leaning over to kiss her cheek, but changed his mind. 'Too painful.' He smiled and left.

"Ow." Sakura stiffly wandered to her bedroom.

---------------------------------------

"OH MY GOD!" Sakura's head snapped up as her front door burst open. "WIND OFF A DRAGON'S WING!" Naruto sprinted into her bedroom where she was just crawling out of bed. "I FOUND IT!" Her eyes widened.

Sasuke came rushing in.

"What's the emergency?" He gasped, looking from Naruto to Sakura – obviously he ran all the way from his own house.

"Wind off a dragon's wing…" Sakura said quietly. "Naruto…"

"I FOUND IT!" He said proudly, his face glowing and sticking his thumb into his puffed-out chest.

"What?"

"I found it! It's not a drink, or cosmetic, or any of the things we thought! It's a term for an unexplained storm. A wind storm, usually. And these little wild flowers pop up wherever it happened." Sasuke's eyebrows went up. "A flower! It's a flower after a wind storm! AND ONE HIT JUST OUTSIDE OF TOWN (how convenient)!" Sakura jumped the rest of the way out of her bed and started hopping up and down, squealing. Sasuke's expression was blank, but his eyes were relieved.

"I overheard some people talking about it at the Ramen Shop. I bolted outta there. I think I even forgot to pay!" He started laughing and scratched the back of his head. "_I_ found it!" he said quietly, amazed.

Sakura felt she could have kissed Naruto – but she held back and turned to Sasuke instead. She surprised him, how she suddenly pounced on him, grinning against his lips.

"Down girl," Sasuke sighed pulling Sakura away and holder her at arms length. "We don't have those flowers just yet."

"Yeah, and you may not get them if you don't hurry! They die after twenty-seven hours!" Sakura looked at Naruto, Naruto looked at Sasuke, Sasuke looked at Sakura. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"Right!" Sakura ran to her closet. "Let's get going!" … "Um," Sakura turned around. "If you don't mind… I was going to get dressed…" Sasuke nodded and pulled Naruto by the elbow out of the room.

--------

Sasuke and Sakura packed lightly. A bedroll… and chocolate – if you were Sakura. (Thankfully, even though they were vampires, solid food wasn't impossible for them… and more importantly, coffee still had its wake-up effect! … ) Naruto, however, packed a bedroll, a flashlight, a glass tube with a cork stopper, instant ramen, a thermos of hot water and a book.

"We're only going to be gone a few hours, Naruto." Sakura sighed. "Why do you need all of that?"

"Bedroll to rest on, flashlight to see with and to read my book with when it gets dark (I have to have something to pass the time with!) Thermos of boiled water to cook ramen, ramen for when I get hungry, glass tube – you have to put the flower SOMEWHERE!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Bedroll, understandable. Me and Sakura have on too. Glass tube, smart. I'm impressed! Everything else… no words come to mind other than stupid. And that doesn't sound good enough to me. When I come up with something else, I'll let you know." Sasuke smirked then tuned, leading the way though the streets. Sakura was right behind him, and Naruto took up the rear busy trying to open his thermos.

"Where to now, dead-last?" Sasuke asked when they had come out of their village. Naruto nodded east.

The sun was high in the sky when they saw the hills, grass charred. Smoke rose here and there in small curls. A few villagers were scattered around pouring buckets of water where the sparks were still live on the ground. Sakura made a small noise, looking around at the black earth.

"Fire?" She asked softly, turning to Naruto. His eyebrows joined as he scanned the area.

"Wind probably blew down a camp fire, causing the grass to burn. Look! Some of the village way down there is on fire!" He pointed out across the blackened ground. In the distance parts of a small village was obscured by smoke. Every once in a while a red flicker could be seen, indicating there were still live flames.

"Now what?" Sakura asked taking a single step towards the ashes.

"We wait." Naruto rolled out his mat and lay down on his stomach – opening his book to a marked place.

"Stupidly… _smart_ comes to mind." Sasuke sighed sitting on the ground where he stood. Naruto looked up. "You bringing all that stuff I mean," he closed his eyes and sighed again. Naruto smiled, eyes narrow.

"Yeah, whatever." He drawled then added "dead-last." Sasuke's eyes snapped open and he glared at the blonde. "So, I'm no the only one who responds to that…" Sasuke turned away, his hair falling in front of his face.

_'You would be good for nothing if you weren't part of such a high and mighty blood line!' _Passed through more head than one.

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed finally sitting between the two. Sasuke shook his head.

"Don't bother, Sakura," he said quietly. "He's right…" Naruto's eyes widened, then softened again in to a friendly smile.

"Man, I'm sorry I snapped at you up on the mountain. I was outta place. I didn't mean it, okay? Like, I'd be dead if you weren't here." Sasuke looked up, shock clear on his face, mouth slightly parted and his eyes empty, searching for the joke in Naruto's words. He found none. He smiled. Naruto rose to his feet and held out his hand. "We okay now?" he asked.

Sasuke stood on his own, eyes clouding over. "Were we to begin with?" Naruto frowned. "But…" he took a deep breath before continuing. "I guess we are now." He then did something that shocked Sakura, who was watching pale and quiet where she sat, and shocked Naruto even more – who was on the other end of Sasuke's friendly hug. "Dead-Last." He taunted just barely above a whisper, so only the blonde could hear. Naruto smiled.

--

When the sun was setting, and the villagers were leaving the burnt grass, the three advanced on the ashes. Sakura watched the sun go down, arm linked with Sasuke's. Her skin was burnt again, though, she didn't care. This had turned out to be a pretty good trip. She sighed dreamily, putting her head on Sasuke's shoulder as the last of the orange-red sunlight gushed over the horizon and distant treetops. The sky slowly fell dark.

She closed her eyes. /Wow/ was all her inner self need to say. That one word said it all. When she reopened her eyes, the sun was gone and the first star twinkled high above them.

"Oh my! Look!" she clutched Sasuke's arm and pointed wildly at all the little silver points that were started to sparkle all over the blackened earth. "It's like the sky has fallen and…." She gasped as all the silver points grew larger. She looked down between her feet where a single silver leaf was sprouting with amazing speed. It was like watching a flower bloom on fast forward.

"Amazing," she breathed as a bloom appeared with four petals like two sets of jaws, snapping at the sky, and two leaves that curled over the blossom like leathery wings. "Wind off a Dragon's Wing" she bent down and touched the flower with her finger. It was like her touch brought the fast forward to a halt. Thousands of flowers – like a sea, covered the ash, making a dazzling pathway all the way to the village.

"You going to pick one?" Naruto whispered, not wanting to disturb the eerie silence. /Find the prettiest one/ Inner Sakura started roaming the flower field. Sakura nodded, unlinking her arm and falling to her knees and. Sasuke knelt beside her, watching.

"Are you going to find the prettiest one?" he asked, mimicking her thoughts. She smiled and nodded again.

She found one and pulled. It easily fell away from the earth, dirt falling like snow off its tiny, delicate roots. The leaves felt leathery and the bloom itself smelled of burnt roses. Sakura cocked her head. "They're rather beautiful, aren't they?" she said sliding the bloom into the glass tube that Naruto handed her – pressing the stopper in firmly. Sasuke didn't answer.

---------------------------------------

"Interesting," Sakura repositioned the large book I her arms and ran her finger down the many paragraphs (**AN:** that makes me think of Hermione from Harry potter…!)

"What?" Naruto sat forward in his overstuffed chair. Sasuke watched quietly, leaning against a bookshelf. The whole library seemed to be holding its breath.

"The phoenix…. Almost always red or gold… blah, blah, blah…. They die every year to every other year, then are reborn from their ashes… umm… mating… One female is born for every twenty eggs. OH! Did you know the female breeding Phoenix lays one to five eggs in a clutch –"

"Sakura, What about what we _came _here to find out…?" Naruto sat back in his chair and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Oh, right," she flipped a page, and then another. "Ah! Here we are! The Phoenix is found in most areas, usually unknown to the human… They are found in most areas where there is – oh! I think we're in luck! …hmm…"

"What?" Naruto sat forward again.

"The phoenix is very territory protective. They –"

"Sakura," Sasuke stepped forward. "You're doing it again." She blushed.

"Sorry." She cleared her throat. "The average Phoenix lives on cliffs – like, higher than the one we have here – They like high places… Signs of a phoenix in the area would be scorched treetops, rock slides, um…" she scanned the page. "Thick, hot air (maybe), and not many, if not any, small creatures in the area… or deer… Among other oddities."

"Great." Naruto smiled. "Where do we get started?" Sakura frowned.

"No idea." She closed the book with a snap and replaced it on the shelf.

"We could start at Mountain Ridge… The valley. There are hundreds of cliffs that way… That would probably be our best bet." Sasuke turned towards the library exit.

**Authors Note:**

**_The Phoenix:_** From Dictionary dot com

_Mythology._ A bird in Egyptian mythology that lived in the desert for 500 years and then consumed itself by fire, later to rise renewed from its ashes. A person or thing of unsurpassed excellence or beauty; a paragon. **Phoenix** A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Tucana and Sculptor.

* * *

Middle English fenix, from Old English, from Old French both from Medieval Latin f nix, from Latin phoenix, from Greek phoinix.

From The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter: By David Colbert

'This sacred creature, almost always described as red and gold, was known as _benu_ in ancient Egypt, where it originated. It was an important symbol of the city of Heliopolis ('Sun City'). In the Egyptian _Book of the Dead_, a religious text written about 2000 BC, the phoenix claims, "I am the keeper of the volume of the book of things which shall be."

In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the phoenix image coveys the passage of time, and it remains a symbol of immortality today. Writers often use the phoenix as a symbol of undying love…'

Yes, I thought that I would do some background info for you! Another shorter chapter. But hey, longer than the last, so suck it up. My first chapters were the longest. 9 pages, where as this one is only 6. That's not that bad so, I don't feel sorry for you. Lol

About the phoenix in this story, as you can see, they are a little different. Mine only live for about one to two years. Whereas most phoenix live much longer than that. I find mythology very interesting, and love studying it. I hope you enjoyed above statements. I know I would, I and its something different to have BG info here on FF dot Net. I'm going to do something like that for some chapters.


	10. 10 Don't Count Your Chkickens Just Yet 4

**Authors Note: **Must-read story_: Revenge is Bitter Sweet_ by **Death By Kunai**

**Eripmav**

**Part Three, Chapter Four**

** "Got any aces?"**

"Umm… Nope, go fish."

"Ooh! I got an ace! I get to go again! Got a… six?"

"Yeah."

"WOOT!"

"I give up."

"WHAT!" Sasuke slapped his cards face up on the table.

"You're winning… again. You beat me at Uno five times, twice at Kings in the Corner, and this is our seventh game of Go Fish. You've won six times already." Sakura frowned.

"You're a sore loser."

"No, I'm just tired of it."

"Okay, okay…. Want to play checkers?"

"No." Sasuke stood, Sakura pouted. "No." he repeated. Sakura shrugged.

"Okay! I got it!" Penelope came sprinting into Sakura's kitchen. She pulled up a chair and sat heavily into it. "Ooh! Cards! ANYWAY! I have a reservation for you three at the Cliff Side Inn –"

"WHAT?" Sasuke's eyebrows knit together.

"Yeah! Happy… whatever day it is. You have a reservation starting three days from now for however long you need. I would just like to say, their rooms are gorgeous!"

"Penelope, why –"

"Thought you'd need help and would like a place to stay… Innyhoo, if you eat there, try there… oh, never mind. Oh! What are you still DOING here? It's a two day walk to get there at least! GET GOING!" she smiled and got up, running out the door.

"Oh my," Sakura breathed "She does have a lot of energy, doesn't she?" Sasuke snorted.

"Yeah," he turned to Sakura. "Better get ready just the same." Sakura nodded and stepped forward, kissing him lightly on the cheek and said, "C'ya later," he shrugged and left as well.

---------------------------------

A two day trek to a place in the middle of no where. A two day trek with absolutely no humans (other than Naruto) along the way – which was very disappointing. A two day trek with nothing or nobody interesting jumping out into the middle of the path threatening lives. A two day trek with not a second alone with Sasuke.

/This. Stinks./ Inner Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Naruto. /Why can't he just leave/ 'Because,' Sakura thought. 'Besides, probably nothing would happen, anyway.' Inner Sakura snorted. /Just like last time nothing happened/ 'Yeah, well, that was… different. Sasuke isn't like that, you know that.' Sigh… This. Stunk.

"Hey look! I SEE CIVILIZATION!" Naruto grinned and started running down the path.

"So," Sakura started, watching the blonde disappear. Sasuke smirked, eyes straight ahead. Then he too started running off at a very fast pace after Naruto. /Drat/

---------------------------

"Wow."

"Uh-huh."

"…"

"Big."

"Yeah."

"…"

"Where do _I_ sleep?"

"…The floor."

"…"

"Where does _he_ get to sleep?"

"_!...The floor!_"

"…"

"I get the bed, don't ask." Sakura flopped down and sighed. A king sized bed _all to herself_! What an awesome night this was going to be! And first thing in the morning, a _hot_ bath… a _long_ hot bath… a long hot _bubble_ bath! Sakura grinned.

"_One_ bedroom; _one_ bathroom; _one_ sitting area. Penelope could have _tripled_ that." Sasuke walked to one wall and studied the pictures hanging there, folding his hands behind his back.

"I'm hungry." Naruto announced; he turned then added "Want me to pick something up for you two?" Sakura sat up, legs dangling over the edge of the bed. She shrugged.

"Sure." Naruto turned to leave. Sakura's breath caught in her chest. Her Wild side had returned… (Dun, dun, dun…) She squeezed her eyes shut tight and prayed she wouldn't say or do anything too stupid. She opened her mouth –

"So," Sasuke turned. Oh thank God, she was saved. "Do you think we'll have any luck here?"

"Depends on what you're talking about." NOOO! Sasuke eyed her. Why did she have to say _that_! That was the worst thing she could say. _Especially_ in a bedroom!

"What do you mean by that?" he cocked an eyebrow.

"What do you_ want_ it to mean?" Okay, that was pretty bad… Wild Sakura, you are grounded until you're – "We haven't been… alone in a while…" _Ninety_! Grounded until you are _ninety_! _And_ you lose _all_ privileges!

"…?" Sasuke tilted his head the other way and took half a pace towards her. "I noticed you have two sides," Sakura froze. "The one who is almost always in control, then the one that you're showing right now. The… crazy one… _wild_, even."

"Actually," she heard herself say calmly. "I have three. The third is a voice inside my head that tends to disagree with whatever I say or do."

"So… this side of you really… dislikes me?"

"Well, recently, that's the one thing we agree on." Sasuke smiled and walked all the way towards her.

"Well, now that I have that cleared up, we _haven't_ been alone in a while. But, I was referring to the phoenix. Do you think that we'll have any luck here?"

"Our chances are high." Sakura gave up trying to pry Wild Sakura's hands away from the 'control panel' and sat in defeat. Sasuke smiled and nodded then turned away. "Leaving so soon? Pity…" He turned his head back and looked her up and down. "…! My Wild Side… I… left…" 'What great timing. She sets me up and leaves.' She swallowed and looked away. How embarrassing. Sasuke said nothing.

He turned fully around again and leaned down so he could look at her in the eyes. He said, "Calm down." He reached out a hand and brushed the hair out her eyes. She looked up, her heart pounding. He placed both hands on her cheeks.

"You know, you have more than one side to you too," She never got to finish her thought; he placed his lips on her, and kissed her slowly. Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck. Sasuke twisted around and sat on the bed next to her.

"Mmm… Sasuke…" Sakura pulled away, "Naruto could come in at any moment." He nodded.

"Right." He let go of her.

God she hated telling him to stop. Inner Sakura hated _her_ for telling him to stop. Wild Sakura glared and threatened to take over again.

"I forgot to ask you," Naruto called very suddenly returning. Sakura jumped, causing Sasuke to jump. Their heads collided painfully and they both fell onto the bed, one on top of the other. And how that actually happened, it is impossible to say because it all happened so fast and there were no witnesses.

"What flavor… of…" Naruto's eyes widened as he opened the bedroom door.

"Umm… Hi Naruto!" Sakura looked up at him. Sasuke rolled off from on top of her and flopped onto the floor looking rather peed. Sakura cleared her throat, not bothering to sit up. Naruto blinked then backed out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

"This is going to happen a lot, isn't it?" Sakura slapped her hand over her face. Sasuke groaned. "Poor Naruto," she sighed. "I mean, he really likes me, and always seems to walk in whenever we fall into… _situations_." He still said nothing, and Sakura felt something go tight in her chest.

Maybe all this 'love' things was just a lie? Maybe Sasuke only ever told her he loved her because he somehow _knew_ that she would give her life for him. And then he could get his life back – and now was just a cover-up because he was wrong about changing back, and he was just being nice until _her_ change was reversed. And then he'd dump her.

It _sounded_ like a Sasuke thing to do.

"Umm, Sasuke?"

"Mm…"

"Where do you stand…?" Sakura rolled over on to her stomach and looked over the side of the bed at him.

"I hate to break it to you so early in the conversation, but I'm actually lying down."

"I mean, where do you stand with _us_?" He sat up and looked at her in shock. /You were right/ Inner Sakura screamed. /He was playing you/ Sakura started to cry.

"Oh! I… why are you… D-don't cry… I… I'm sorry?" He was rather flustered. What was wrong? He had said nothing yet, unless it was his 'not standing, I'm laying down' comment that had upset her. Though, he somehow felt this was more than a simple comment.

"You were just acting, weren't you?" She sobbed turning away. "You were just being nice. You told me you loved me because you knew I'd give myself to you. And you were too sympathetic to kill me when you were wrong."

"I… No!"

"And… and… you decided it would be fun to play around with what you started, because I was… _am_ an easy target."

"Sakura! You're –"

"And as soon as we change back, you're planning on dumping me, right?"

"_My God_, Sakura! What made you think up _that_?"

"I can't believe I never saw it! You only held my hand once with others around, you only hug or kiss me if it makes you look good! You hardly ever show affection towards me in public… and you never told me in any way about how you feel about me… other than that day at the park." She sniffed.

"Sakura –" She pushed herself off the bed, anger replacing her bitter-sadness. "Where are you going…?"

"…Away." She turned and stalked out of the room.

--It wasn't entirely true. Sakura knew this, Sasuke knew this. But, she had been rejected _so_ _many_ times in the past...--

-------------------------------------

"Okay, we can start looking here," Sakura tapped the mapped and smiled at Naruto.

"Sakura? Are you feeling okay?" She forced a larger grin and nodded. Sasuke walked in and froze. He then advanced on Sakura, kissing the top of her had and saying, "good morning." Naruto snorted.

"Did you two have a fight last night or, what…?"

"Something like that." Sakura said dangerously, all smiles disappearing.

"Sakura, can we please talk? You never even let me—"

"Why should I? I figured you out, that's all I need – not you rubbing it in." her eyes flashed red.

"You're jumping to conclusions! Please, I'm… _beg_ging…" She raised and eyebrow and Naruto choked. 'Please say you'll talk, _please_!' he thought, feeling anger and frustration boil in his gut.

"He's begging." Naruto pointed out a little too happily for Sasuke's taste. "Uchiha is _begging_."

"Fine." Sakura said quietly, Sasuke sighed with relief.

"Naruto, could you—"

"What ever you have to say can be said in front of him." Sakura glared. Naruto, slowly stood from the table where he and Sakura were sitting, and Sasuke sat in his place. "Stay." She said when Naruto started to leave. "Whatever he has to say can he said in front of you." He started to object, but she more firmly said, "_Stay_." And he sat on the floor right where he stood. Sasuke cleared his throat.

"I…" he glanced down at Naruto who was pretending his shoes were _much_ more interesting at the moment. "I never did or said anything to you just because I thought it would be fun. I never lied. I'm not the kind of person who feels comfortable showing affection in public, you know that…" he shifted his position before continuing. "I _do_ love you, but I'm really bad a expressing it. Forgive me that I can't! I am going to try and… change for you." He took a deep breath. "I stand… I… Sakura, I want to be with you…" his eyes widened. "I mean, I want you to be with me… I mean… I…." He stopped (oh boy…). He felt extremely stupid. Naruto would probably have done much better with this. He turned to look at him.

Naruto stared up at him. His blue eyes as wide as dinner plates. He turned back to Sakura, who was glaring at Sasuke.

"Is there anything…? I..." Her glaring at him so fiercely made his heart stop. He didn't actually know how it happened, but he knew he had lost her. "Forget it." He mumbled darkly and rising to his feet. He walked calmly to the door. Before leaving he looked over his should and said, "I'm sorry." And he left.

He walked up the trail to the cliffs. He needed to find the phoenix. That was his top priority. The Phoenix and then the nymph's water. Sakura no longer mattered; Naruto would take care of her.

He then needed to find a silver bowl. After all the ingredients were mixed together and whatnot, and Sakura and he were back to normal, he would leave Konohagakure and look for Itachi.

That's what he would do.

That's what was best.

Because…

Sakura no longer mattered.


	11. 11 Very 1

**Author Note: **Please excuse the Sasuke OOC-ness… Not too good at writing him… I've made him smile less throughout the story so far… but… some things are too large to change… Like him in 'fluffy situations'.

**Eripmav**

**Part Four, Chapter One**

** "Dude, come back. **You've been out here for a day and a half." Naruto walked up the path towards Sasuke. "If you come back, you could get some sleep and we could help you look. Like planned, remember?" Sasuke sighed.

"I can't Naruto, I can't."

"Seriously man, even Sakura's worried, and she's pissed at you for some reason she won't talk about." Sasuke snorted. "Care to fill me in on the details?" He asked after a moment and sitting next to the brooding raven-haired young man.

"Why?" Sasuke glared up at him.

"Because I'm _listening_," he gave Naruto a disgusted look.

"You're so…" Naruto shrugged. "Whatever." He was silent for a moment then he took a deep breath. "We… When you left, we start… kissing…" he peeked at Naruto, who wasn't laughing, and continued. "Then she pulled away saying you could come back at any moment. And you did. We both jumped up at the same time, and we lost our balance… Then you walked in." he sighed, frustrated. "This is stupid, Naruto, why—"

"Sasuke. Get it off your chest. You know you want to, you're killing yourself over this."

"… When you closed the door, she snapped. She asked me where I stood with… us… She started crying before I could even answer. She blamed me for lying to her. Pretending to love her so I could get her to her blood or something… And she left." Naruto raised his eyebrows.

"I really _do_ love her, Naruto," Sasuke turned to the blonde looking anxious. "I really, honestly_, truly do_! D… Don't you _believe_ me? I'm _crazy_ about her!" Naruto nodded.

Really, he would have thought Sasuke the _last_ person to love Sakura. But the look in his eyes proved that he really did. Something, somewhere, Naruto thought Sakura irrational for not listening to him earlier. He was seriously heartbroken now that she hadn't.

And it was clearly visible.

What surprised Naruto the most was Sasuke _admitting_ his emotions. It was something he almost, if not never did. But after getting together with her – _finally_ according to Sakura, she had waited for so long – Something had changed in him. He wasn't a bottled up mystery for the most part.

But he was slowly shutting down again.

"Harsh…" Naruto stood. "You gonna come?"

"Harsh? _Harsh_! Is that _all_ you're going to _say_? _Harsh_!" Sasuke rose to his feet so fast, he had to steady his balance on a nearby tree. He curved his fingers angrily, tearing at the moss on the tree trunk. A bird sitting on an upper branch squawked disapprovingly.

"Are you coming, or not?" Naruto repeated as he turned to leave. Sasuke watched with a horrified expression; then he masked all emotions, following Naruto stiffly down the path.

---

"Oh my god, Where did you find him!" Sakura rushed to the hotel rooms' door as soon as Naruto and Sasuke walked in.

"Cliff path. No phoenix there, by the way." Naruto walked to the small fridge in the hotel room and pulled out an apple. "I think we should try the furthest one tomorrow. It looks like somewhere I would live if I were a phoenix." Sakura shrugged, matching Sasuke's glare. They started at each other, unmoving, eyes flashing a deep red. Sakura's arms hung stiffly at her sides, hands balled into tight fists. Sasuke shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

"Guys? Hello?" Naruto grinned. "I'm thinking of a word – whoever guesses it gets a million dollars!" (**AN:** should be in Yen, but I'm not sure what a million dollars would equal to…)

"Ramen." Sakura said monotone and automatically.

"Well, no… close though… It starts with an 'F'. Give up? _Forgiveness_! Eh? You like? Since neither of you got it, you both owe _me_ a million dollars!"

"Whatever," Sasuke turned away, Naruto frowned.

"OH MY GOD, A _CRUCIFIX_!" Both Sakura and Sasuke jumped and turned to face him. "Now that I have your attention, you guys need to talk. No, Sasuke, you should talk and Sakura, you should listen." She glared at him. "_Oookay_, I'll talk, you BOTH need to listen." Sakura turned and walked to the bedroom, closing the door behind her. "Wow, she's stubborn…" Naruto mused; Sasuke rolled his eyes and left the hotel room completely, the door clicking shut quietly behind him.

------------------------------------

"Eerie." Naruto frowned at the sky. "It's so quiet…" Sakura fanned herself wildly, looking around for shade.

"God. It's hot." She swore under her breath and stalked up the path. A wall of rock was on one side of a narrow mountain path in which the trio walked; a sheer drop on the other. "Oh, thank goodness," Sakura sighed when she edged her way around a bend, "shade." She grinned and made a beeline for it as fast as should could. Sasuke smirked and followed her. The rock opened up into a small clearing, with grass and a few trees.

"You guys, its really not that hot." Naruto rolled his eyes and trailed behind them. But when he looked up, he froze. "Sakura? Scorched treetops were a sign of a phoenix in the area, right?" She nodded and followed his gaze upward.

"Silence," she mused. "There are no birds around. That's why it is so quiet… Man, this 'complicated' procedure to change back sure isn't complicated." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh?" Naruto's good mood plummeted; Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. He volunteered no further information. (**AN:** Referring to the Sasuke/Sakura argument.)

"Why don't we stop here for a while, maybe the rest of the day? We can travel at night when it is not so hot." Sasuke lay back in the grass, Sakura shrugged.

"So…" Naruto plopped himself down (good mood returning). "To pass the time… Sakura, what do you plan on doing once you're changed back?"

"Eat." She glared at him, but couldn't hold it – she broke into a grin. "Pickled sour plums, Cheese burgers, pizza, ramen even!" she giggled. "Then suntan." She cocked her head. "What about you? What are you going to do once we get back?"

"Eat ramen," he smiled. "And you Sasuke? What are you going to do?" Sasuke was silent for a minute.

"Move." He turned onto his side and propped his head up in his hand. "Then go look for Itachi."

"Finally gonna kill him, eh?" Naruto smirked.

"I didn't say that." Sasuke said calmly, seriously. All humour drained from Naruto. "I'm going to challenge him," Sasuke continued, "but I don't think that I will be able to beat him." Naruto sat straighter.

"Why don't you train more first, then?" he asked, blue eyes wide.

"There is no point."

"_Excuse me_?" Sakura rose to her feet, face red with anger. "You're thinking about letting Itachi _kill_ you?" Sasuke shrugged eyes cold and face pale, all emotions masked. "Uchiha Sasuke!" she screamed. "You can't just _throw_ your life away like that! You cant just…" she shook her head and screamed. "You can't _do_ that!"

"Why not?" Sasuke drawled.

"Because!" Naruto was shocked. "That's _throwing your life_ away! Why would you even _think_ of doing that?"

"You have dreams, Naruto." Sasuke sat fully. "My dream was to kill Itachi. But, what will that accomplish? What would I do with myself afterward?" He shrugged again and smiled.

"Sasuke," Sakura clenched her teeth. "Is this some kind of… of way of getting back at me for… for —"

"For figuring me out? No. Because you _didn't_ figure me out. You didn't even let me answer; this is just my way of dealing with it." His smile grew.

"You're sick." Sakura growled.

"Maybe I am, but I know I'm telling the truth, and that's as good as it's gonna get."

Sakura's mouth hung open. /He can't be serious/ Inner Sakura started to shake. /And what was that supposed to mean. 'But I know that I'm telling the truth', huh/ Sakura shook her head in disbelief.

"You're going to _kill_ yourself because I don't _believe_ you?" she asked quietly.

"No, I'm going to let _Itachi_ kill me because you don't believe me _and_ 'I wouldn't be worth anything if I wasn't a part of such a high and mighty bloodline'." Naruto paled and Sasuke turned away, ending the discussion.

'He has pride,' Sakura thought laying down on the grass and closing her eyes. 'This could just be some act to get it back.' /Pretty damn good act, then/ Inner Sakura pointed out. 'Or he could be telling the truth…' /…Yeah…/ 'Or…' Sakura yawned, closing her eyes and drifting to sleep.

---

She awoke that evening, but did not open her eyes.

"…Itachi killing you? Truth please." She heard Naruto whisper frantically.

"I finally admitted, after _all those years_, that I truly loved her, and _have_ loved her all along." '_Probably noticed me wake…_' Sakura thought. '_Putting on an act…_' She was just about to sit up, but she stopped herself, craving to hear more. Sasuke continued.

"I had found… happiness. But I lost it because I am… _shy_… I guess." Sakura's heart skipped a beat. '_Defiantly an act. He'd never admit that…!_' "I'm not going to try and win a losing game. Once her mind is made up, it's made up. No changing it." '_Yup.' _She smirked. '_At least he's smart!'_ "And if she didn't… couldn't accept me telling her a few mornings ago that I _did_ love her, then," Sakura heard the rustle of clothing as he shrugged. "So be it… My first dream was to kill Itachi, but the day she got changed, it became my second. My first was… to… Never mind, it'll sound stupid to you." He sighed.

"Sasuke! Don't do _that_ to me! What? What was your first?" Sasuke glared at Naruto for a minute then sighed again.

"…To make her happy. To protect her. To… eventually, _hopefully_, marry her. But, that's gone now." /Or he _could_ have been telling the truth…/ Sakura sat bolt upright.

Sasuke and Naruto turned sharply to look at her with shocked and maybe slightly horrified expressions. She didn't know what to say now that they expected her to say something…

"D… Don't count your chickens j-just yet…"

"S…Sakura!" Sasuke scrambled to his feet, Naruto did as well.

"You really wanted… I…" She began sobbing. /IDIOT! IDIOT! _IDIOT_/ Inner Sakura started slamming her head against a wall. /You should have believed him! WHY did you even THINK he was lying/

Great sobs that made her hiccup raked over and through her body. She had _dared_ doubt Uchiha Sasuke, and this was her payment. You _never_ question an Uchiha… well, the one she knew at least… He was usually right and almost never lied. She buried her face in her hands and started to rock herself back and forth. Now not only would Sasuke think she didn't trust him, she was an over-emotional crybaby. Ino was better than her. She had fallen _below_ scum. And Ino wasn't _quite_ scum level. Which meant Ino was probably looking pretty good to the Uchiha at the moment.

"What the hell happened to her?" Penelope suddenly appeared. Naruto looked up, flustered; Sasuke slowly raised his eyes. "What's wrong?" She looked from Naruto to Sasuke.

"I…" Sasuke trailed off then fell to his knees.

"You…" she looked to Naruto. "He…?" Naruto reached out and grabber her elbow he said, "Let's go for a nice _long_ walk." He steered her away.

"Sakura, please stop crying. Every time you cry, something bad happens…" She looked up at Sasuke her eyes swollen and puffy. She was surprised to see his just as swollen. (**AN:** Yeah, yeah, WAY out of character. But give me a break. He needs emotion SOME times. Hope this doesn't bother you too badly…)

"You're… _cry_ing!" She squeaked. He laughed.

"Yeah," he looked down at his hands. "I guess… I am. Stupid, isn't it? I never cry anymore."

"Sasuke, I'm so –"

"_Don't_ finish that sentence." Sakura closed her mouth, eyes wide. "Let's pretend that none of this ever happened, and you just asked me where I stand, okay?" She nodded dumbly.

"W…Where do you stand?" she asked, a few tears still sliding down her cheek.

"Hopefully not alone." He whispered reaching out and wiping her tears with his thumb. "Hopefully with _you_." Sakura laughed and threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. "I'm sorry." He whispered ever lighter. "I really _do_ love you. Please forgive me…"

"Sakura forgives." She half-giggled, half-sobbed. "Sakura apologizes too. Sakura –"

"Why is Sakura referring to herself in the third person?" Sasuke pushed her away and studied her face.

"Because," she smiled. "Sakura is busy praising that she got you back." She sighed and put her head on Sasuke's chest, just below his chin. "But she'll be back soon."

Sasuke nodded. "Good."


	12. 12 Very 2

**Authors Note:** Reminder: Best to travel at night so Sakura, Sasuke, and Penelope don't burn…

**Eripmav**

**Part Four, Chapter Two**

** "Okay, people, we're losing moon-time! **Here's the plan of action! Hike up to the next place where sitting is possible and make camp there. Sound good?" Penelope paced, hands folded behind her back. Sakura smiled weakly, Naruto ginned, Sasuke nodded.

"Right." Sasuke rubbed his chin. "I looked around Low Point Lookout… From what I saw, after the Second Point, there is no actual trail to High Point – Which is most likely where are Phoenix is going to be…" Naruto agreed.

"So, we should get moving! Tomorrow night, we'll start bush-whacking and rock-climbing!" Penelope winked. "And now I bet you are wondering why I'm here. I thought you could use some help, so here I am!" she grinned as she threw her hands into the air for emphasis.

Sasuke nodded again and took Sakura's hand; he led her down the path, away from the trees. Naruto fell into step with Penelope and followed.

"They are an odd… _sappy_ couple, aren't they?' Penelope mused just loud enough for Naruto to hear. He shrugged.

"Sakura has loved him ever since she was young."

"How long have they been together?" Penelope glanced at the blonde and continued to walk.

"Not long at all. Sasuke just admitted he loved her… the day she got 'changed'." Penelope cocked her head and said: "Ah, should have known." A small smile pulled at the corners of Naruto's lips.

"Hang on," Sasuke suddenly stopped; Naruto had to swerve to the left to keep from walking into him. Penelope reached out and grabbed him before he could step off the edge of the Cliffside; she hung onto the rock on her right.

"Warn me next time you do that" Naruto regained his balance.

"We're gonna have trouble here… I'll go first, Sakura, you next, the Penelope. Naruto, you take up the rear, you should hang on to each other…" Sasuke said maneuvering in front of Sakura and ignoring a rather annoyed blonde.

"We've come to a really narrow part on the trail. I suggest concentrating your Chakra to your feet to help your balance."

"Concentrate your _what_?" Penelope asked flatly, grabbing a handful of Sakura's shirt.

"Chakra – Power. We're ninjas. We could walk up trees if we wanted to."

"Reeeeeeaaaaaally… Why don't you just walk up the cliff face and to where there _are_ _no_ narrow ledges like this?"

"Because," Sasuke sighed, "We only have so much energy. We _could_ get up there and walk, but _up_ there, there is no possible way to reach out destination." Penelope nodded, peeking over the edge, her foot slipping and sending hundreds of little rocks plummeting down to the bottom.

"Careful," Naruto grabbed her elbows, "That's a nasty fall as I found out a few minutes ago…" He slowly let her go. "Don't look down, by the way…" He smiled.

"Almost there!" Sakura called. "Just a few… more… steps… Okay!" Sasuke turned to watch Sakura step across a small gap in the rock. After said gap, the ledge widened again. It was smooth and flat. A trickle of water glided across the surface before curling over the cliff edge and dripping down.

"We could stop here…" Sakura suggested, hugging herself and rubbing her arms.

"Mm." Sasuke walked to the wall off rock opposite the steep drop-off and sat with his back against it. "We're facing East now," He scratched his head thoughtfully. "So we will be in the sun for the morning."

"True," Penelope added, "but we don't know how far along the next place is where you can comfortably sit… And if you ask me, a thirteen foot ledge is pretty good."

"How do you know its thirteen feet?" Naruto splashed the toe of his sandal in the in the tiny stream.

"I've been around thirty-three (Which is NOT that old) years longer than you (Which means I was nineteen when I got turned). I've developed a talent in measure. Plus, I was always good at math… For example, from the distance I'm at and this lighting, I'd guess that water is three quarters and inch deep…"

"Oh?" Naruto looked at Penelope quizzically, eyebrows raised. "And for how long, would you say this thirteen foot ledge lasts thirteen feet for?"

"I'd guess… twenty-two feet… and a half." She replied; Naruto shrugged.

"Well, maybe I could scout ahead and see if there is no place with shade, sound good?" Sasuke nodded and Naruto skipped off.

"I'm going to go too! I hate being in one place for very long. She ran off after Naruto.

"Bizarre."

"Very…"

"So…" Sakura started drumming her fingers. "You hungry?"

"Very."

"Is that all your going to say?"

"…Very?"

"Yes, 'very'." Sasuke shrugged.

"Very."

"You just did that to bug me. You really enjoy annoying me when you can, don't you?"

"Very." Sasuke smirked and ducked when Sakura threw a rock at his head.

(With Penelope and Naruto…)

"Land-Ho!" Penelope sang. "I see a hill Capt'n!"

"That's one mean looking hill."

"Aye, it is, isn't it?"

"Well, shall we?"

"The wind is good, may as well!"

"Excuse me?" Naruto turned to face the vampire, who was ginning.

"The wind… for sailing…? _Please_ tell me you _have_ figured out that I turned this Scout into a Pirate ship!"

"…Right…" Naruto turned around again and started trotting up the hill.

"Wow, Capt'n! Not so fast! Your sailor can't keep up! Hey! MAN OVERBOARD!"

(A few minutes of hill-running-upping…?)

"Wow." Penelope gasped when she reached the top. Naruto stood staring wide-eyed around him.

"Um, Penelope, since I don't think you're going to want to come back up that hill, you stay here and I'll go get Sasuke and Sakura."

"A…am I safe?"

"I… You should be. Don't make any sudden moves and you'll be fine." (At least, that's what he hoped) She nodded and Naruto ran back down the hill.

**TBC!**


	13. 13 Very 3

**Authors Note:** Pardon the OOCness on Sasuke's part.

**Eripmav**

**Part Four, Chapter three**

**Very**

**Sasuke let one of his hands leave that back of Sakura's head and slide down her back.**

"Wouldn't it be funny if Naruto came?" Sakura gasped. Sasuke nodded and started kissing down her neck. "That tickles," He lift his head to look at her and licked his lips before attacking her mouth again. Sakura leaned into him and tangled her fingers deeper into his hair.

"GUYS!" Stop _eating_ each other for _one_ minute! _Emergency_!" Sakura choked for a second and quickly untangled herself from Sasuke and scrambled into a proper sitting position. Sasuke glared.

"Very funny." He mumbled under his breath to Sakura. She frowned.

"You better have a good reason for interrupting." She growled dangerously.

"I think finding our Phoenix sooner than expected can be classed as a good reason, right?"

- - -

Sasuke and Sakura ran followed Naruto at a run. They started cursing in between short breaths when the blonde told them he had left Penelope alone at the top of the giant hill they were now running up.

The sky was just starting to brighten, and there stood Penelope, frozen with fear; a fierce looking bird, nearly as large as she sat in a nest for stones, head raised and black, beady eyes watching her carefully.

Another fiery head popped up, from no where it seemed, and watched the newcomers.

"It was sleeping when I left," Naruto whispered; Sakura latched onto Sasuke's arm.

"I can't remember, are Phoenix dangerous?" She asked. He shrugged and moved to stand next to Penelope. A third head rose and blinked at them before disappearing again.

"A nest of rocks…" Naruto mused quietly as the second head vanished as well.

"Those aren't rocks." Penelope said flatly. "Those are eggs… They've been hatching ever since you left." She continued after a pause.

"They look exactly like rocks!" Sakura gasped now hugging Sasuke's arm tighter. He thought '_Way to go Eagle-Eye._' He would have said it out loud, but he held his tongue.

"Because," Penelope took a deep breath. "Some of them probably _are_."

"I wondered: 'How the hell are we supposed to get a Phoenix egg _without_ getting scorched?' at the beginning of this little quest, _now_ I wonder how we're supposed to get an egg without getting scorched that _is_ an egg!" Sasuke pulled his arm from Sakura's grasp and draped it over her shoulder.

/Damn/ Inner Sakura moaned shaking her head. 'I couldn't have said it better myself.' Sakura thought back.

Naruto suddenly stepped forward.

"What are you doing!" Penelope hissed; he ignored her.

"We're not here to hurt you…" Naruto slowly kneeled The Phoenix ruffled its wings and cocked its head. Head radiated off the bright red and orange feathers. Smoke trickled out of the beak when it slightly opened. The great bird hissed but did not move.

"Naruto!" Penelope pleaded "_What are you doing_?"

At first Sasuke thought Naruto out of his mind. Talking to a bird – a monster – that could kill them all if it wished. But the birds' reactions as Naruto told it the whole story about Sasuke and Sakura becoming vampires and wanting to change back, made him question his accusation.

Little blue flames sprouted on the birds head and quickly matured to a deep, glowing read as Naruto finished the tale saying they needed a Phoenix egg. This was an intelligent bird. It seemed to understand every word spoken to it. It screeched – Long and high, rising to his feet, now taller than all of them. It stretched out its wings and shook them, sending sparks dancing all over the rock, blanketing Penelope, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura in an intense wave of heat.

A hot windstorm raged around them as another Phoenix winged over from a neighboring cliff. Once it landed, it hopped awkwardly to Naruto and stuck out a massive leg; it squawked and placed its foot gently in Naruto's lap.

"What's it doing?" Sakura whispered to nobody in particular. The first Phoenix stretched out its neck and took two steps forward. It dipped its head to Naruto's and raised it again, pausing. Then it reached over tapping Sakura's shoulder then Sasuke's and finally the nest of eggs/rocks.

"It's trying to tell us something…!" Sakura said a little louder. Sasuke rolled his eyes and the Phoenix did it all over again.

"Oh!" Penelope kneeled next to Naruto. "This on is hurt!" She grinned up at Sakura and Sasuke. "I think she's saying that if we help this one, we can have an egg!" Both Phoenix bobbed their heads.

The two in the nest watched lazily as an egg started to shake. The first Phoenix turned hastily and nudged it.

"She?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Penelope smiled.

"Yeah! Obviously! She's the mother…! The two in the nest are some of the ones that hatched before you came. Most of the others left right away…" Sasuke's eyebrows knit together as he glanced at the two in the nest that were now quietly shifting their wait, watching the egg on the ground.

"Are you sure that –"

"This one here is either a father or a friend." She licked her lips. "Of course, it could be another hatchling too…!"

"Penelope, I don't think you saw right. The two in the nest are nearly as big as—" Sasuke was interrupted again. A thin crack spread over the rock-like egg, thin rays of light exploding from where it split. The shell suddenly burst apart. Flames swallowed whatever came out of the egg, but a dark shadow the size of a chicken told all watching that there was still something there. The shape grew… _fast_. Almost as soon as it started, the chicken-sized something was the same size as the Phoenix in the nest. The flames slowly disappeared.

"Amazing," Sakura breathed as the new-born Phoenix flapped un-gracefully to the nest, its siblings squabbled at it for a minute before quieting down and falling asleep again.

…

"Okay, this Phoenix isn't too badly hurt… A cut on the middle toe, but if it's not treated, the nail could fall off. Penelope stroked the oversized chicken foot. "Does anybody have any rags?" Naruto looked up at Sakura.

"My bag, front pocket." She nodded and knelt behind him, pulling a roll of cloth out of his backpack and handing it to the Vampire.

Penelope leaned toward the Phoenix foot and spat on its toe.

"What the _hell_ are you doing!" Naruto gasped "_Gross_! Your disgusting saliva got on my leg! _Eww_!"

"Oh, stop being a child." Penelope rolled her eyes skywards. "Human saliva has something in it that helps heal." She unraveled the bandage and wrapped it tightly around the massive foot. Sasuke was going to helpfully point out that she was _not_ human, but kept his mouth shut.

"That's all we can really do." She sighed. "Leave that on for at _least_ seven days. It will keep dust from entering the cut and infecting it. If that doesn't help, then come find me. I am usually found in the Second World, or in Konohagakure Village." She nodded to the Phoenix and stood.

The bird lifted its foot from Naruto's lap and winged upward. When the smoke cleared, there wasn't even a tiny dot on the horizon proving it had been in the area at all. The great bird had already flown out of sight.

"Where did they go?" Sakura looked around. Not a single Phoenix was in sight. A single rock lay on the ground in front of Naruto. "Weird…"

Sasuke stepped forward and picked up the rock and tested its weight. He cocked his head and glanced back at his teammates.

"Well," he smirked, "One more to go."

- - -

"Where are we supposed to find a Nymph's pool?" Sakura wondered watching Penelope skip away happily down the path. Naruto shrugged.

"She comes and goes awfully fast, doesn't she?" he sighed.

"The forest I'd guess." Sasuke answered Sakura. "In fairy tales they are usually in a forest."

"So… We could go to any old forest?" Sakura asked looking down over the Cliffside. "One with small ponds? One like that?" She pointed down at the treetops.

"I guess…" Sasuke picked up his pack and wandered in the direction Penelope had left.

She had traveled with the group until they reached Low-Point Lookout, and claimed she had business to attend to in the Second World. It was the second time she had ever spoken of the place, and the first time she gave something of an excuse as to why she was leaving.

"What exactly is the Second World?" Naruto wondered out loud. Sasuke shrugged and turned to wait for Sakura.

Naruto felt hot jealousy bubble in his gut 'Everything good happens to him, lucky bastard!' Naruto thought, glaring at Sasuke and Sakura's entwined fingers.


	14. 14 Eripmav 1

**Eripmav**

**Part Five, Chapter One**

**Eripmav**

**The walk the rest of the way down the mountain was uneventful for our favorite trio**, however, when they reached the bottom, the sky had darkened immensely and rumbling could be heard in the distance.

Naruto had long since calmed down (he was angry, remember) and was chatting happily with Sakura and skipping down the path in the shadows of the large trees.

The group came to a halt at the edge of the forest. With the sky so dark, it really didn't look too inviting. A crow sounded from somewhere in the distance and rain began to fall softly.

"Maybe we should find shelter and wait out the storm…" Sakura said looking uneasily upward. Lightning streaked across the sky and the ground shook as thunder growled from much closer than before.

"Why?" Sasuke asked bluntly taking the first step towards the now swaying trees.

"But!" Naruto ran to catch up with him. "Being under trees is dangerous in a thunderstorm!" Sasuke huffed.

"Yes!" Sakura added now trotting beside Naruto. "We really should find a nice rock or something to hide under!" Sasuke glowered and sighed.

"Look. If you two are so scared, go hide. _I'll_ get the water or whatever on my _own_." He stopped walking and turned to them. "Okay?" Naruto puffed out his chest.

"No." he stated walking away confidently, further into the woods. "Who said anything about being afraid? I mean, it's just a storm…" He hoped that the other two didn't sense the fear behind his voice. "I won't lose to you." He added under his breath.

- - -

The rain steadily began to fall harder, but nobody dared to complain. They were all just as wet; hair in their eyes and water streaming down their faces and running down the backs of their necks and into their shirts.

"Do you know where you are leading us, Naruto?" Sakura hollered over the roar of the pouring rain.

'_Do I know where I am going_?' Naruto stopped walking to think about this. '_No…_' at least he didn't think he knew. How could he! It was his first time in this forest! It was a rather stupid question, really…

"Yes." He replied and continued walking. Sakura nodded. Clearly she did not see the flaw in his answer. Sasuke, however, did. He rolled his eyes but didn't argue.

The trio continued walking as the day slowly came to a close. The rain eventually stopped pouring down quite so hard and let up to a light drizzle as the last of the sun disappeared.

"I don't like this." Sakura shivered sitting down in the mud, not longer caring how dirty she got.

"I don't think any of us do, Sakura." Sasuke pointed out sitting down next to her. She shook her head.

"No, that's not what I meant. I don't like the feeling this place gives off. It feels… wrong."

"What are you talking about? I've never felt better! I actually feel safe… or whatever. Welcomed, ya know?" Naruto grinned and crossed his arms, smiling brightly down at the pink headed girl. She pouted.

"The idiot is right." Sasuke sighed. "I feel it too. Maybe you're just getting sick from all that rain…" Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck and looked around.

The rain made the forest floor appear misty and peaceful. There was such a feeling of tranquility that he almost broke into a grin and laughed out loud. Which he restrained himself doing and pushed that thought to the back of his head.

The trees seemed to glow even with the darkened night sky high over head. The very ground he sat on no longer felt cold and soggy, but hummed warmly, lulling him to sleep.

Sasuke blinked, bringing his eyes back into focus. Maybe Sakura was a little right. This place was strange.

"Where is Naruto?" he asked. He had been looking away for only a second and the dumb blonde was already missing.

"Hmm?" Sakura looked up from her backpack. "Oh, he went looking for a pond." Sasuke nodded and got up and quickly found, and followed, what were unmistakably Naruto's footsteps, ignoring Sakura's pleas to not leave her.

Sasuke walked in silence, other than the sucking of his feet on the wet ground, for no longer than a minute before he found Naruto standing at the edge of a small pond looking baffled.

"What are you doing, dead-last?" He asked coming to a halt beside him and scowling out at the pond, trying to decide whether Naruto was looking at the odd shaped rock or trying to spot a fish.

"I saw her a minute ago… maybe she will come back… she was the most beautiful thing I have _ever_ seen…!"

Apparently it was neither the rock nor the fish…

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke glanced that the blonde then back out at the water.

"She came out of the water right over there…" Naruto pointed, "Maybe if I wait long enough she will show up again…!"

Obviously Naruto was losing his mind.

"Naruto, what the hell are you –" But Sasuke was cut off by a loud gurgling sound. Another look at the waters surface cried all too clearly that something was coming out of the water. "Naruto! We have to get out of here!" Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and attempted at pulling him away.

"No!" Naruto grinned. "Stay! It's her!" the boy was unfazed by Sasuke's tugging, which was odd since he was pulling as hard as he could. Sasuke looked doubtfully at Naruto one more time before looking back at the pond. He froze.

Pale green hair and the fairest of skin rose gracefully out of the water. Bright green eyes fluttered lazily in their direction. Sasuke asked quietly, "Who is she?"

Dressed in nothing but her skin and her long hair wrapping about her body, she walked across the water and towards them, humming with her perfect voice in a perfect tone.

"Who are you? Sasuke asked her and she knelt before him and Naruto, who was now drooling.

"My name is Leohsinska." Her voice rang clear as silver bells and hung in the air in a very inviting way. "And you are?" she reached out and stroked each their cheeks in turn fondly. She did not wait for them to respond, but beckoned them to follow her back into the water…

- - -

Sakura wrapped her arms around herself and continued to rock back and forth.

"I hope those two aren't getting themselves into trouble…"

**Author Note:**

Name for the nymph is from 20000-names dot com.

_Leohsinska_ is Welsh I believe for 'Wood Nymph'. That's why she is green. -smile- I was thinking of making it _Eidothea_ (if that was her name, she would be blue) which is Greek for 'Sea Nymph'.


	15. 15 Eripmav 2

**Eripmav**

**Part Five, Chapter Two**

**Eripmav**

**Sakura sat up and stretched.** They boys had been gone so long she started to think that they were… No. Don't think such things. They were fine. They were trained ninja after all, and could certainly take care of themselves.

But…

She shook her head. NO! Don't think that. They were fine. It's only been… she looked at her watch… a _few_ hours since Naruto left… she sighed.

/Stop panicking/ Inner Sakura glared and stated walking in circles. /If you are so worried about those two bozos, go looking for them/ Sakura sat back down again.

"If they are not back in half an hour, I will go looking. I'll wait first, you never know…"

- - -

They were following her directly into the water. Which normally would have been a stupid idea, but _she_ was calling them… So it made perfect sense.

Naruto followed Sasuke ankle deep into the water. Something in the back of his head tried arguing, but he pushed that aside. _She_ was calling.

- - -

Sakura nearly started chewing her nails, but she took one look at her perfect, hard-earned pink nails, and she switched to drumming them on the soggy forest floor instead. It had been ten minutes. Where_ were_ they?

She licked her lips.

Why was she so nervous? She had no reason to be… They had been out on their own before, and it wasn't like they were six and had been at the park since after dark… or something… They could handle themselves. Besides, knowing Sasuke, he had probably found Naruto by now and they two of them were trying to find a pond. With a nymph...

Nymph.

Why did that suddenly sound worse than it should have?

- - -

Sasuke felt pants start to soak through at the shins. But he didn't mind. He looked directly into her pale eyes and kept walking forward…

Wait. What was that?

He glanced over to his right and saw Naruto standing still and looking puzzled only a step behind.

"Something isn't right…" he started saying, his big blue eyes wide with confusion. Sasuke stopped moving forward and started to turn all the way around, but stopped when _she_ grabbed his wrist.

"You're not leaving, are you?" he eyes were sad. Sasuke glanced at Naruto but faced the water again when the grip on his arm tightened then released. Then she sang the one word that could change the world. "_Come…_"

- - -

Sakura sighed and smiled up at the trees.

What was she thinking? A nymph was certainly not dangerous. How could it? All those fairy tales spoke of them as beautiful creatures that tempted males into their homes and made love to them.

_Made_…_love_…

Sakura's eyes widened. That didn't sound too… uhh…

But what came after?

Sakura raked her memory.

They pulled them into their homes and then… and after… They…

_Killed_ them.

Sakura screamed and jumped to her feet. If those stories were true, her boys were in deep trouble. But where were they? What way did they go again? She spun around, chose a direction and started to run before turning around and running in the opposite direction.

"Be safe! Please! You haven't found a nymph, _please_!"

- - -

Naruto was still puzzling but tried his best to ignore the screaming in the back of his head. But he paid enough attention to it to know that it was not his voice that he was hearing. But a gruff, commanding voice that yelled at him to stop. Begging nearly.

But _she_ was beckoning for him to continue. One step behind Sasuke. So he continued into the water, his waist now getting wet.

- - -

Sakura ran faster than she ever had. She could feel her energy draining as she used large amounts of chakra to boost her speed. If anything happened to them, she would never let herself live it down. But she might not be too late!

Might?

NO! Don't think like that… She wasn't too late! She couldn't be! If she was too late then that would mean that –

/_shut up idiot girl and run/_ Inner Sakura? Was it really you/RUN! If you stop, you _will_ be too late/ Run. Yes. Must run!

Sakura felt her breathing become more and more labored. Run…

- - -

No. something was defiantly wrong. The voice was becoming more difficult to ignore.

/STOP/

Why? I don't want to. I can't stop. _She_ is calling. _She_ wants me. I must go…

/You must STOP! BAKA/

The voice stopped suddenly, almost cowering away when he took another step, water reaching his chest.

- - -

Where was Penelope when you needed her? Wasn't it like, her job to turn up randomly when things were dire?

/Keep running, idiot girl. You aren't helpless. You can do this./ Helpless. She wasn't helpless… Sakura stopped running and stood perfectly still. She _wasn't_ helpless. If help didn't show up, it wouldn't matter. Yes, it would be handy, but if it didn't, she could do it on her own.

Not that this was an emergency rescue pr anything. Ha ha ha. It was just a desperate attempt to find her boys before trouble found them first. That was all it was, really.

/RUN/ Yes. Before trouble found them first…

- - -

Suddenly the voice in the back of his head came back but stronger than ever.

/STOP RIGHT NOW OR WE'LL BOTH DIE/

…Die?

Naruto opened his eyes and stopped walking.

He was standing nearly shoulder deep in a warm pool of water. Sasuke was standing in front of him.

"Sasuke…? What are we –" Naruto shrieked. He had never screamed quite so loud or high pitched as he did then.

Before him was the ugliest monster that he had ever seen. Its unsightly tangled green hair hung at odd lengths all around its oval head. Piercing beady, black eyes started up at him angrily. Thin lips stretched into an unmistakable grin and reached out to Sasuke and gripped his arm firmly.

"Come…" it hissed, and for a moment an illusion of beauty flickered over its true self.

/Get out of here/ The voice in the back of his head screamed louder yet.

"Sasuke!" Naruto took a sloppy step back; it was a struggle to move fast enough in the water. The raven-head turned

"What do you want dead-last – What the hell? Why are we in the water and IYE-YIE!" Sasuke wrenched his arm out of the nymph's grip as soon as he saw it and stumbled backwards. He then turned hurriedly around and started to slosh awkwardly towards dry land; Naruto fearfully led the way.

"Are you leaving already?" The monster hissed and Sasuke stopped.

"Sasuke, no!" Naruto was ankle deep, Sasuke only a step behind. They were so close. They both could have gotten out of this alive, but as the blonde watched, Sasuke's eyes glazed over and he slowly faced the nymph. Naruto took one step back, and his foot landed on safety. He pleaded, "Sasuke, please, come back!"

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Sakura came to a sliding halt a few yards away. Sasuke snapped back to himself after hearing her voice.

"Sakura! What are you doing here? Why do you look so pale? Are you all right? I…" He ran out of the water at a speed that would normally be inhuman, the unmistakable blue glow of chakra curled around his legs as he dashed. But before he could even reach her, she collapsed to the ground.

"Don't stop Sasuke, pick her up and lets _goooooo_! We have a mad nymph behind us!" Sasuke didn't bother turning around and scooped a limp Sakura off the ground and sped off after Naruto.

- - -

"_Idiots_, I tell you!" Penelope seemed rather upset over the whole nymph issue. "Were you never told that nymphs were dangerous? Especially for males! Even females, since the nymph instinctively kills them on sight…" Penelope rubbed her temples.

"Then how are we supposed to get the water if they are so dangerous?" Naruto protested, pouting.

"Females, however, can get much closer to them if she knows what she is doing. Thank the nine-tales _dear_ Naruto, because if it weren't for that demon you would have become a meal by now. As for you, _Sas_uke..." she glared and he returned her nasty stare with is own.

"How are you feeling, Sakura?" Penelope suddenly turned from the fuming Uchiha and faced Sakura who had just awoken on the ground nearby.

"Uhnnnnn." (Translated: Dead.)

"It would only be expected. You used up a lot of your energy, Chakra I believe you call it?"

"…Munn!"

"Oh, they are fine. It seems thanks to you as well, they both came out alive."

"….hhhh…."

"Yes, I know what you mean." The vampire glanced back at Sasuke. "Men are hopeless."

"Hey!" Naruto frowned in their direction.

"Oh, not_ you_," She smiled at him sweetly. Naruto smiled and turned back to… whatever he was doing.

"Well, we obviously can't go back there." Sasuke grumbled under his breath.

"No, we can't, especially _you_." Penelope sighed again. "But, we could…" Penelope glanced at Naruto's wet jumper and Sasuke's wet shirt. "Do you have something that water could be kept in?"

"Hmmm…?" Sakura blinked.

"Oh, great!" Penelope skipped over to Sakura's backpack. "What pocket?"

"Mmmph."

"Great!" She opened the small pocket in the front of the sack and pulled out a glass bottle. She then walked cautiously over to Sasuke, and pounced.

"AH! Get off me! What are you doing!"

"Oh… my…"

"MNNTH!"

"Hold still!"

……………………CENSORED…………………… (or too lazy to write…)

In the end, Penelope managed to wring Sasuke's shirt and squeeze a small amount of water into the glass, and got a little more from a willing Naruto and the bottom of his pants.

"Last item collected."


	16. 16 Eripmav 3

**Eripmav**

**Part Five, Chapter Three**

**Eripmav**

"What now?" Naruto asked, swinging his feet idly back and forth from his perch on a tree branch. Everybody seemed to be asking that a lot these days. What now? What _now_? He felt like an immature little kid. Which _was_ fitting, but he felt more immature that usual. He felt unsafe… Always unsure about what was around the next corner on the path of life.

…Not that he could tell anyway, but it felt more dangerous traveling with two, sometimes three, vampires. Speaking of clouds, they looked awfully hungry this afternoon.

"Yes, what do we do with all of this now that we have collected it?" Sakura stared at the items that she had spread out on the ground in front of her.

"Get a sliver bowl and then –" Sasuke started but was rudely interrupted.

"Nope! No… You must take them to _that_ place…" she smiled.

"What place?" Sakura cocked her head, Sasuke glared.

"_That_ place! _The_ place…? Come on. You must remember! You're memory is worse than Christoph's." Penelope laughed.

"What _place_?" Sakura furrowed her brows and glanced at Sasuke. He shrugged.

"Did Christoph tell us of a certain place?" Naruto asked.

"He should have! There is no way to change back otherwise…" Penelope said, still smiling.

"How do we know you're not wrong?" Sasuke crossed his arms and watched her start to pace.

"Oh, I'm not wrong. I've been there!" she looked at each of them. "Don't you remember? …Did Christoph not _tell_ you!" Her mouth made and O shape and she gasped. "My _goodness_! What a forgetful fool!" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Well then, where must we go?" Sakura started to pack the items into her bag.

"Oh, you can't just _go_ there… You must _get_ there."

"Then how do we _get_ there?"

"I'm afraid that you misunderstand. This is a little more complicated than you think." She sighed. "This place that you must get to is not in the world you know. But oddly, _is_ at the same time."

"What?" Naruto jumped down from where he was sitting and stood beside Sasuke. "Is it in the Second World, the place where you go?"

"No. It's not there either. It's between the two places. It is neither here, nor there. It's _that_ place."

"That doesn't make sense." Sakura said tying her bag shut and sitting back on her heels, eyebrows drawn together. "How is it possible, in the first place, to have two worlds on one planet, and on top of that, have a world between them?"

"Not a world, a place."

"Still! It doesn't make sense… unless it's a Heaven and Hell type thing."

"Oh no! The Second World isn't like that, nor is _that_ place."

"What exactly is the Second World?" Sasuke sat down on the ground and stretched his legs out.

"It is neither here nor there," she raised her hands to stop any frustrated comments from a confused Uchiha. He snapped his mouth shut. "Let me finish…

"It is the place where your fairy tales come from. Children can access this world through their imaginations… Unicorns exist there, not horses. To the Secondanions, a horse is an alien creature. Everything you think is myth, is real for them, and vise versa. Everything real to you is story to them. It's hard to explain."

"Is it like a parallel universe?" Sakura inquired sitting next to Sasuke.

"Yes… No. No, not really. It's… a world in itself."

"How do you get there?" Sakura asked, chewing on her nails. (She would regret that later…) Penelope started to laugh.

"You are already there." She winked at their sudden shocked expressions. All of them burst out a "how!" nearly at the same time. "Everything you are looking at is like one side of a wall. You just have to train yourself to be able to find the door, and step onto the other side; or if you are really good, you don't need a door, but just need to step around the wall. Though, that way is dangerous, and you can end up trapped at _that_ place. I myself need a door."

"Where is it?" Sasuke asked looking around him like something might jump out at him from nowhere.

"It's different for everybody. You have to find one for yourself." She then turned around and started walking away.

"Wait! Where can we find this door?" Sakura jumped to her feet.

"Within yourself!" Penelope called over her shoulder and raised her hand in farewell.

"…But," Sakura turned to her companions, "if we have to find a door for ourselves, we can't go together… What now?"

'_There's that _'what now'_ again._' Naruto thought starting to pace. '_Within yourself_… _what is that supposed to mean? How do you start looking if you don't know _where_ to start?' _He sighed._ 'What now?_'

…

'_Poor Naruto… He looks so confused…_' Sakura watched him pacing worriedly. '_I wonder what he's thinking. Is he just as confused as I am? _/Probably/_ Yeah.__ But… _/…Where do you start looking if you have to look in yourself/'

…

'_WHAT THE FRICK! What the H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS IS _THAT_ SUPPOSED TO MEAN?_' Sasuke was officially panicking. He had no idea what to think or where to turn. Sakura looked so calm, she probably knew what to do, she was smart… Maybe if he asked nicely she would tell him what to do… '_Duh!__ She _is_ my girlfriend after all… but then again, she might just say 'You have to find it for yourself'. That's the more likely._'

…

'_Sasuke looks like he's waiting to see what we do first. The little cheater… Can't do anything for himself. Just look at that expressionless face. Disgusting.'_ Naruto glared in Sasuke's direction. '_He probably knows what to do, but he's watching me and Sakura for comical pleasure._'

…

/Stop it girl, there is no more nail to chew… Unless you want to chew your fingers right off/. '_What? Oh… my nails…_' how sad. /Lets start thinking. Within yourself…/ Inner Sakura said it over and over… /Wait a moment… within yourself, _inside_ yourself… What is it you call me? '_Inner Sakura.__ Inner Sakura! Inner! Do you know where the door is?_'

…

'_She's figured it out._' Sasuke could tell. Her face suddenly brightened and she started grinning around. "Do you know Sakura?" Sasuke dared ask. She looked at him and just smiled. '_Damn her._'

…

/Hey brat. The girl has figured it out. You got any ideas/ '_Nine Tales?_' /Who else/ '_What the hell? Since when did you randomly start talking and wanting to help?_' He said nothing. Stupid fox. /Look at that! She's walking away! Hurry and figure it out! It can't be that complicated/ '_Maybe if you shut up I could concentrate!_' /Not true! You were worse off before I started talking/ '_ARG! You're so annoying! I wish you weren't inside me!_' /Yeah well –/ '_Wait a moment! Within yourself!'_ Nine tales growled then was suddenly silent. '_Oh Nine tales…!_'

…

They've both found a door…' Sasuke watched as Naruto walked away, leaving him alone. 'Where is the bloody door?' He was suddenly reminded about how hungry he was. 'Don't think about that… where is the door?' he looked around the clearing. It was obviously no where that he could physically see, because Naruto and Sakura had walked away in opposite directions.

He squinted, trying to see if looking around him differently would help… He sighed heavily. All that got him was a headache. 'Why can't I figure it out?'

**Weak…**

His brother's voice rang clearly in his head and he was thrown into his own memories.

…

…

His parents lay on the ground, dead. Sasuke stood over them in the dark room, moonlight streaming in from the door that was cracked open behind him. He was scared. Why did this happen to him? He loved his parents so dearly, and he thought his brother did too. They were all so happy together.

He wrapped his small arms around himself and shivered. What if he was going to die next?

**'You're not worth killing.'**

But he wanted to die so badly. It wasn't worth the pain to continue on after today.

He shivered again, his bare feet cold against the wood floor. Dare he go outside? He turned and faced the door behind him.

Yes. It was safe now. There were no more screams, his brother must have left. He raised his hand in front of his eyes to shield them from the blinding light as he walked forward. He reached out his other hand and pushed the door open all the way…

**Authors Note: **Excuse the… weirdness of this chapter. Pure fantasy.

Sorry, this chapter is mainly dialogue… And you have my deepest sympathies if you did not understand what went on. Hopefully that will get cleared up for you in the following chapter )

"speaking of clouds" is a phrase I use that basically means "by the way…"


	17. 17 Eripmav 4

**Authors Note:**

I'd like to thank to the reviews who reviewed (lol) during the making of this lil story: (any names with - are from signed reviews)

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And without further ado, I give you… _the Finale_.

**Eripmav**

**Part Five, Chapter Four**

**The Eripmav**

**White. **

In every direction, the same thing was to be seen. White nothingness surrounded any being that was unfortunate to have found the door in their souls to the Other Worlds.

The body had no feeling to it, but the pure whiteness was wet. Misty… and it stung the eyes. Of course, one who ventured this far into themselves couldn't tell that they were hurting, or even if their eyes were open or closed. But they did know that they were trapped, and in a panicked frenzy tried to find a way to escape to darker corners of their consciousness. This was impossible, or course, because there is only one way to go here, and that is forward. Once the door is opened, there is no turning back until you get to the other side… if you make it that far.

This place deep in your mind is tricky place, and often an escape is never found, and you are forever lost inside. Thus the outer being appears to be unconscious, in a coma-like state.

Sasuke, of course, was smarter than to panic straight away, like any normal being would have. He knew that he had been brought to this place of nothingness for a reason, and that reason was to be 'un-changed'. A task thought to be impossible. It was stupid then if that was why he was here… to reverse the irreversible. A sense of panic shot through him. He was going to be trapped here forever! He mentally told himself to calm down and focus on moving forward and finding Sakura. His heart slowed back to a normal, steady pace.

With his blinded eyes, he surveyed the situation he had gotten himself into. He could hear memories of his calling from all directions, replaying their bloody selves over and over. He followed those which called the loudest…

- - -

A third door flew open with a crash, and a pissed looking Sasuke strutted into the circular room.

"Took you long enough," Sakura said plainly, sighing. "I thought I was the only one that made it." Sasuke nodded curtly and looked around for Naruto, who was no where in sight. All that whiteness was getting on his nerves.

The floor beneath his feet (Which he now noticed had regained their feeling, along with the rest of his body) was rough wood. There were no walls, only pillars of stone that disappeared into the whiteness they pierced high above any head. Beyond the pillars was more of the milky white that had surrounded him on the way to his destination. But in four places, each opposite of another, was a wooden door. Hanging in between two pillars; with no walls around them they looked like they were supported by air alone. In the center of all this there stood a stone pedestal, a beam of light cascaded onto a shiny silver bowl on the granite surface from an unseen light-source.

"Where is Naruto?" Sasuke asked, his eyes traveling back to Sakura. His eyes widened when he heard his voice. His _high pitched_ voice. Damn that white cloudy stuff, it must have altered it. Sakura giggled.

"He hasn't made it yet." Sasuke nodded and inspected his hands, which were much smaller than the ones he was used to seeing daily.

Then it dawned on him. Not only had the door to the Second World been in his childhood memories, but he himself had been turned into his former self. He looked at Sakura. She looked normal enough…

"I have a change too," she said reading his questioning gaze. "I've taken on the form of my inner-self." She winked and pointed to her forehead where Sasuke just noticed the bold characters that spelled out 'Inner Sakura'. (**AN:** I couldn't help myself ;P )

"Huh." Sasuke shifted his weight uneasily.

"Hell yeah!" Sakura said smiling brightly.

Sasuke turned his attention to one of the four doors which had begun to rattle, something on the other side scratching at it.

"That's probably Naruto." Sakura said eyeing the door warily, unsure at what might be scratching on the other side. Sasuke strode boldly up to it and opened it. He stepped aside again.

A giant fox, with nine flaming tales slowly crept inside, its ears flat on its head.

Sakura's eyes widened. She said, "Naruto?" and took a step back. The fox raised its head toward her voice, his mouth a foxy grin. A deep rumble emitted from the back of the animal's throat. "Is that you?"

Sasuke closed the door and turned once again to face Sakura.

"Of course it is," he said, "For me the door to this…" he swept his hand around the room, "…Place was in my memories, and I changed to my younger self and you to your 'inner self'. It is only logical that Naruto has taken the form of the nine tales fox demon." He nodded towards the fox. "Assuming the secret to the door was hidden with the demon. But as we can see, it obviously was." Man, he was a no-it-all brat when he was younger. No wonder he never had any friends. Sasuke sighed.

"Well sor-ry. How was I supposed to know?" Sakura harrumphed and crossed her arms. The fox, Naruto, huffed through his nose sending a cloud of dark smoke curling upwards.

Crickets chirped.

"Where is Penelope?" Sakura asked suddenly. "I had thought she was going to come with us." Sasuke tensed. "Well, that was the impression I got anyway. The way she was telling us all about this and she walked away and whatnot. Maybe she wasn't going to come, testing our abilities or something. Or maybe she _is_ coming and just happened to get lost on the way or something. Like –"

"I knew you talked a lot, but whoa. You seem to have a large storage of words all ready to be used. Thank God you restrain yourself regularly."

"Huh?" Sakura glared at him. "You're such a dork."

"Hey!"

"Well you _are_! Thank goodness I didn't know you that well when I was younger."

"Why you! If I'm a dork, _you're_ a—"

"_Children_, please!" All heads turned to the silky voice. There, in front of the last door stood a tall, slim figure, silhouetted by the glare of whiteness outside of it. The door slowly swung shut and clicked back into place inside the doorframe.

Sasuke blinked.

"Who are you?" he asked bluntly.

"I'm _offended_ Sasuke! It's me! …Penelope? Gosh you're an idiot!" she crossed her arms and stuck her nose into the air.

"Oh. Well… How was I supposed to know when you look like… _that_…!" she looked down her nose at him, then lowered her chin to inspect herself.

"Right." Her black dress hung loosely off her figure, its hem just brushing the floor. Her arms and legs seemed longer and thinner than they had in the 'real' world. Her hair was still glossy-black and hung to her shoulders in a straight line, but grey randomly streaked through it. Her eyes were pale and had an otherworldly glow to them and were thickly outlined in dark colors; curving over her swollen, red lips were two sharp teeth. Her nails were longer, curling slightly at the tips giving them a deadly look. Her ears were much larger and pointed at the tips. Her skin was pale, her face slightly sunken, accenting her cheekbones. Her entire aura screamed death. "I guess I didn't tell you about the appearance alteration. Well, this is the _real_ me!" she smiled, only succeeding in bearing more sharp teeth.

"Please don't smile again." Sakura said shuddering. Penelope frowned.

"Sakura, if you were to stay a vampire, over time you would soon look like this. And I'm not that bad looking! I mean, some of the elders are… oh never mind."

Naruto, who was still standing near his door growled loudly, drawing their attention.

"You are absolutely right, Naruto. We need to get moving along and dive into business." Sasuke gave her a funny look.

"You can understand him?" he asked flatly.

"Of course!" Penelope smirked. Sasuke mumbled something about Doctor Doolittle. "What was that?"

"Nothing," Sasuke sighed scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Now. The ingredients. Sakura, I hope you brought them along!" Sakura nodded and swung off her backpack. She knelt and rummaged around for the four items. While she was doing this, Naruto began to whimper.

"What do you mean?" Penelope asked turning to him. "You never got a silver bowl! … You can't go back now! If you were to leave, you… Oh… Well… Wait a moment! There is one already here! How convenient!" Penelope smiled, motioning towards the pedestal in the center of the room. "Good thing! Phew! That would have sucked." Naruto huffed which sounded like a sigh of relief, then looked gloomy.

"I have the ingredients!" Sakura chimed standing up.

"Good!" Penelope sauntered over to the silver bowl and glared down at it. "Now, if I could just remember the correct order for the ingredients…"

"You mean there is a _specific order_ to the ingredients!" Sasuke cried throwing his hands into the air. "This is _so_ not good."

"What did you think, _young_ Sasuke? That we could just throw them together and 'TA DA! Here comes the human!'?" she sighed. "That would be too easy. Things like this are _meant_ to be challenging."

"Really? Because it wasn't that hard gathering the items and whatnot." Sakura pointed out clasping her hands together.

"Yeah well, that was just… Oh, shut up and let me think." Penelope screwed her eyes shut, Naruto silently watched her from where he sat. Her tongue appeared at the corner of her mouth and her hands clenched into fists as she thought. "Ooh, I can't remember!" Naruto cocked his head and growled quietly to her. "I just can't remember! I… what was that?" her eyes snapped open and she turned her gaze to the fox. "Alphabetical order?" she put her finger to her chin. "Yeah, that might be right…"

"So, put the ingredients into the bowl in alphabetical order?" Sakura questioned. "Water, wind, earth and an egg… or do we call the egg fire and the earth ground, or dirt? Or…" Sakura stopped talking when Penelope started shaking her head.

"No," she said, "then alphabetical isn't right… there are too many names we could call each item."

"Unless it's alphabetical according to type – or element." Sasuke put in.

"But remember, earth could have two names even then!" Sakura argued. "Ground or earth."

"Is it not correctly said as 'earth'?" he sighed. So first the cursed earth, then phoenix egg – fire – then the water and finally the flowers – wind."

"Yes, that is logical. Unless the one who created this ritual knew that the person who wished to change back and had obtained all ingredients would think that, therefore changed the name of earth to ground. Then it would be fire, ground, water and wind." Penelope said. "And if that is so, and we did it the _other_ way, then game over."

"What do you mean 'game over'?" Sakura asked.

"Bye-bye to the one who drank the created concoction." Penelope said plainly. She watched the horror dawn on Sakura's face. "Oh… I didn't tell you then? If we get this wrong the punishment is death. You are technically not supposed to be able to change back." Penelope had a serious expression set on her face.

"Sh_it_." Sasuke said.

"Hey! Young-ins like you are not supposed to know language like that!" the elder vampire scolded, laughing.

"Ooh…" Sakura groaned looking down at the items she had spread out on the floor. Naruto barked.

"Hmm? …Yeah, that might work too."

"What did he say?" Sasuke asked sitting down on the ground and crossing his legs.

"He said maybe if we put the ingredients together in the order that we found them." Penelope shrugged. "That could possibly be the way. But again, what if you found the ingredients in the _wrong _order?"

"What if we put the ingredients together all at once?" Sakura suggesting sitting next to Sasuke and curling some of her hair around a finger.

"That wouldn't work," Penelope stated starting to pace the length of the room. "Because if one ingredient were to hit the bottom of the silver bowl even a fraction of a second before the others, the results could be fatal."

"Maybe," Sasuke started slowly, "whoever created this 'ritual' _said_ that there was a certain order when there _isn't_."

"What do you mean?" Penelope asked stopping and turning her pale gaze to the raven-head.

"To scare away anybody who wants to change back. So they decide to stay a vampire instead of change back because they don't want to die."

"But," Sakura said, "vampires are already dead, hence that wouldn't work. You can't die when you are _already dead_."

"Vampires are not _dead_." Penelope said starting to pace again. "They only _appear_ it. Their, _our_, hearts beat so slowly a normal human being cannot detect it. When they feel for a pulse, they don't feel anything. A vampire's heart only needs to beat once every few days. One beat has enough power to send the blood in a nearly constant circuit through the body. And since a vampire's body is so different, they don't need oxygen as often as a human would – so they don't need to breathe often either. But since you were changed so recently it's still habit for you to do so. But you don't have to. When you are a vampire, breathing comes automatically when your heart beats so you can oxygenate your body."

"Well, that's interesting." Sasuke said darkly.

"Yeah!" Penelope was on a role. "And a vampire can digest human food as well. But it doesn't have the properties that one needs for energy as it does for humans… Some vampires, after eating, feel they need to throw it up again since it hurts too much to digest it. Blood is the ideal food because of the proteins in it, or something. And since blood carries oxygen through the body, when taken in regularly, _it_ can oxygenate the body, therefore a vampire's heart doesn't need to beat as often as it does and breathing becomes unnecessary." Naruto growled. "Right, sorry. Back to our predicament."

"Well," Sakura started, "using the same idea as Sasuke, maybe the creator of this idea knew that we would be thinking about the correct order needed, and the _right_ order is the _first_ one any logical person would think of. But since it was the _first_ one thought of, the ones who wanted to change back thought that was too easy to come up with, therefore it is the _incorrect_ order… Does that make sense?"

"Sure." Penelope sighed. "But what is the first idea? We pretty much ruled out alphabetical since each item has too many names."

"Well, what would everybody think of doing?" Sasuke shrugged.

"Alphabetical." Sakura said miserably.

"Yeah." Penelope agreed silently. "Wait!" she looked at all the items. "Excluding our earth-ground problem, that could be it! We have a solid idea for water and wind – that is if we are going elementally. This was the first thing I thought of. Either dirt or earth that element is in first place. But if it's name is ground, then…"

"But you have to have ground before you can have fire." Sakura said thoughtfully. "If you think about it." she began opening the foil that held the dirt.

"Wait!" Sasuke said putting his hand on hers. "What if we are wrong?" Naruto growled an agreement.

"We'll never know until we try." She said seriously, looking directly into his eyes. He nodded and let her go.

Sakura carefully dumped the earth into the bowl, brushing off the extra that stuck to the wrapper. Next, Sasuke took the Phoenix egg and –

"Are we supposed to crack it, or put it in as is?" he looked to Penelope who had obviously thought of the same thing by the expression on her face.

"Is it even _possible_ to crack one of those?" She asked cocking her head. "Just throw it in as is." Sasuke did.

Sakura then uncorked the vile with the water, and slowly poured it over the rock-like egg. The liquid trickled down the surface and pooled inside the dirt, slowly turning it to mud.

Sasuke took the vile containing the flower, his breath caught in his throat. He took off the cork and tipped it upside down. Sakura placed her hand over his and watched the small flower slide out of the tube.

As soon as it was in the air, it turned into ash, sprinkling over the egg, dirt and water.

Nothing happened.

"Penelope?" Sasuke questioned taking Sakura's hand in his own small one. The vampire shrugged.

"Try stirring it together some…" she suggested moving her finger in a circular motion. Sasuke nodded and reached with his other hand towards the bowl, then hesitated before it came in contact with the silver.

"I can't touch it." He said looking back at Penelope. "It will burn me."

"Well _duh_! It's silver!" she sighed. Naruto stepped over and put his nose to the bowl.

Pressing down on the egg, thin lines started spreading around it. He raised his head just before the entire thing cracked in half. There. He had a role in this whole quandary.

"Oh, so you _can _break them open!" Penelope stated just before the entire room was engulfed in light.

Small flames sprouted up from the silver bowl, swallowing everything. When the flames died down, water shot straight up, disappearing into the white expanse above. In a great burst, it shot millions of droplets through the entire room by a giant gust of wind.

Sasuke raised his arm to shield his face, and did his best to cover Sakura as well. Squinting his eyes open, he could see a shadow of Penelope hunched over, and Naruto with his head between his great paws. He squeezed his eyes shut tight when light began exploding from the bowl with a thunderous roar.

When the elemental storm died down, he stood straight. Water dropped from his bangs into his eyes and ran down his neck. Sakura peeked between her fingers.

"Is it over?" she asked timidly. Sasuke nodded and cautiously approached the bowl. A cloudy liquid swirled inside, changing from green, to blue, to red then a murky brown and back again.

"It's nearly done." Penelope whispered. "All you have to do is drink it." Naruto huffed an alert agreement. Sasuke nodded and picked up the bowl.

He cringed when it started burning his hands. He could feel them sizzling.

"Let's hurry and get this over with." Sakura said grasping the other side. She tipped it to his lips, then to her own.

-

It was agony; hotness seeping to every part of the body. Sakura felt her fall to her knees and her eyes roll back; she tried to scream, but the heat had taken over her throat, and she couldn't make a sound. She fell to her hands and started breathing heavily. Was this the end of her? Was the order of the ingredients incorrect?

She could hear Penelope screaming to her and Sasuke, but it sounded distant. She thought she heard Naruto howling somewhere too.

"Sa-Sakura!" She knew that voice. It was Sasuke.

"Sakura!" he said again. "If… If we live through this… M-marry me-" She heard a thump as he hit the ground next to her. She wanted to respond, but still couldn't find her voice. She fell all the way to the ground and rolled onto her side, curling into a fetal position. Gripping her head pounding with her hands, she could hear somebody screaming unbearably.

It was her.

"YES!" She managed to make her scream say just before she fell completely into darkness.

- - -

Sakura's eyes snapped open. She gasped, gulping the air that her lungs were screaming for. As she did, a horrible pain tore at her chest. Her heart was beating erratically. Her entire body prickled painfully as a foot or hand does when deprived of blood flow. Her head felt numb.

For the next few minutes she concentrated on breathing and calming her frantic heart. She stared up at the canopy of trees above her. She watched a small bird flit about between the branches.

After her body was functioning as best as it was able to in its condition, she forced herself to sit up.

Penelope was a little ways away, sitting on a large rock, looking down her nose at her. She looked normal again.

"Awake are we?" Sakura didn't answer but looked around her. Naruto was a few feet away, still unconscious. Sasuke was beside her, and she just noticed her hand still in his.

His eyes were open, but unfocused. She called his name softly; her voice was raspy. He turned to face her, eyes clearing. He smiled.

"We're alive." He said quietly.

"Just barely." Penelope said sliding off the rock and nudging Naruto with her foot. He bolted into a sitting position.

"THAT'S MY RAMEN!" he shouted looking around. "Oh, oops! He-he! OH MY GOD! YOU'RE ALIVE!" He scrambled to stand up and ran the short distance to Sasuke and Sakura. "My goodness, I though you two were goners for sure when you both started screaming the way you did!"

"They are alive, but something went wrong." Penelope said unhappily. "They appear human, but they still have an aura around them that smells of vampire."

"Of course they do." Said a voice. Penelope turned.

"Christoph!" she cried cheerfully. Sakura paled as the goat came skipping towards them through the trees.

"Good heavens it took me a while to find you, Penelope! I see you have made some Eripmav friends!" He gave the tall vampire a goat-like smile. "It's been a while since I've met one. How do you do, I'm Christoph, founder of the Change-Back! It's nice to see someone who figured out my puzzle! Good thing too, because I forgot how to do it… Would you two mind telling me how it's done?" He cocked his head.

"Wh-WHAT!" Sasuke sat up. "YOU were the one who created the way to change back?"

"Of course! Is your friend all right, she looks a little ill… Hmm… I _knew_ I should have made the ingredients more allergy-friendly."

"Christoph, what do you mean _Eripmav_?" Penelope inquired.

"Well, changing from a vampire back into a human is impossible. Consequently, it is impossible to become _full_ human again. The closest you can get is _appearing_ human and having your body function as one. I call the state 'Eripmav'. Not many exist, since so many vampires who wanted to change back were too scared to try. And most of the ones that did manage are dead. They can't live forever – just an extremely long time. Not as long as a true vampire though." He winked.

"So, we're both still vampires?" Sakura asked quietly, gripping Sasuke's hand at the sight of a goat.

"No," Christoph sighed shaking his head. "You are both _Eripmav_. The _human vampire_, if you will." He smiled.

"Oh." Sakura looked to Sasuke. He rose to his feet and helped Sakura to hers.

"Well, we're alive." He said.

"And hungry!" Naruto cried rubbing his belly.

"Yeah." Sakura agreed hugging Sasuke's waist.

"Hm. There isn't much I can do to help you two." Penelope said picking Christoph up off the ground. "Will you be all right?"

"I'm sure we will be." Sasuke nodded. "We've been through a lot over the past while. And, as you said, there isn't anything you can do anymore. So… I think we just need to rest, and then think, I guess."

"Right." Penelope turned to Naruto. "Then this is my goodbye." Naruto's eyes widened.

"Thank you so much for all your help." Sakura said sadly. "You are a good friend."

"What? You're leaving!" Naruto cried, his blue eyes bright.

"What did you think? That I would stay with you three forever? No… I can never stay in one place for a long time. And the Second World is calling." She looked down at Christoph. "And I have to get this guy back. I'm sure he's forgotten where his home is by now." She laughed.

"Well," she looked at Sasuke, then Sakura and finally Naruto. "Good luck you three… You too were good friends, and I hope this isn't the last I see of you." With that, she turned and started walking away.

"Goodbye Eripmav!" Christoph called back.

"Oh, and Naruto," Penelope stopped, but didn't turn around. "You… are a good guy. I'll miss you." She started walking again. "Shame you aren't a vampire…" She said to herself as she kept walking.

"You think they will be all right?" Christoph asked looking up at her. She put him on the ground and he trotted along beside her.

"Yeah. They basically got what they wanted. As good as it's going to get, anyway. I wonder if I will see them in the Second World…"

"Did they have trouble getting to The Place Between?" Christoph asked stopping briefly to scratch his head with his hind leg.

"Not much."

"Then I suspect you will… What happened, by the way?"

"Sakura made it there first; Sasuke kept his cool and came in second. Naruto, however, had a bit of a fright and panicked, but made it all right in the end. The first time does that to some people."

"Heh, kinda like you, isn't it?" Penelope smiled in response. "Yeah. They will be fine." Christoph trotted ahead, following a butterfly.

-

"Sakura?" Sasuke asked, looking down at the top of her head. "Just after we… You know… I asked you if… Well, I was serious."

"I know, Sasuke." Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck. "My answer is yes." Sasuke smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

"Hey love birds! What are you waiting around for? I'm starving!" Sasuke growled but raised his head anyway. Naruto was running ahead, in the opposite direction Penelope left in.

"Wait up dead-last!" Sasuke called to him, curling his arm around Sakura's waist and starting to slowly follow the blonde.

"He liked her, didn't he?" Sakura said quietly.

"Probably. The idiot. It would never have worked."

"Hmm. Though, I think he knew that." Sakura agreed putting her head on Sasuke's shoulder. She sighed, thinking back to what happened over the last while. She had melted the ice around Sasuke's heart enough for him to admit his feelings. She was turned into a vampire and back again. Well, as close as possible. She and Sasuke were _Eripmav_. She didn't care much though, as long as she didn't need blood to survive and she and Sasuke were together, it was all right with her. "Sasuke," she said hugging his middle. "Let's go home."

**The End**

**Authors Note:**

I'm finished. Wow.

…

Thank you again to all my reviews and readers! I am really glad you stuck with me! And I hoped you liked my little fan fiction. :)

Hopefully there aren't _too_ many questions left unanswered. And if there are, _hope_fully those will get answered in the sequel ;)

The story continues in the "Second World"… (dun dun dun)


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